iTrainDragons
by A. Kingsleigh
Summary: An ordinary museum trip becomes an extraordinary adventure for the iCarly gang. Can they protect an unsuspecting village from a vengeful menace...and prevent a heartbreaking tragedy? Rated T for violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! Whether you actually like this idea, are curious about what the heck I'm planning, or just want to write a review saying I'm evil and should drop dead, I want to thank you for taking a look at "iTrainDragons," my crossover between iCarly and How to Train Your Dragon!**

***ducks to avoid sharp objects thrown by enraged HTTYD fans***

**Hey, hey, hear me out, guys! I just want to make something clear; the horrible crime against humanity you might be about to read is Sam's fault, not mine. No, really: the idea for this was inspired by images that kept popping into my head of Sam interacting with HTTYD characters, most notably riding a Monstrous Nightmare and fighting Astrid. So why did I choose this pairing, of all pairings? The answer is simple...Because It Was There. If this is as far as you're going, thank you for stopping by. If you choose to stay, then welcome, and I hope you enjoy the fic. I'm really truly expecting this to crash and burn, but hey, no one said fanfiction had to be **_**good.**_

**DISCLAIMER: Neither iCarly nor HTTYD belongs to me.**

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**|~|iTrain Dragons|~|**

For Carly Shay, school had gone pretty well. She'd gotten a B on that geography quiz, Freddie had downloaded some new greenscreen backgrounds to use on the next iCarly, and Sam had attacked Gibby and tied him to the flagpole by his pants over the history assignment.

"GAH! Why has Mr. Devlin gotta give out lame-o assignments? History's already a torture chamber," Sam was complaining as she, Carly, Freddie and Gibby relaxed at the Groovy Smoothie.

"I think you'd actually _like_ doing a report on Vikings," Freddie responded. "They were uncouth, half-nutty, just like you - "

If looks could kill, the one Sam gave Freddie would have snapped his neck. "Watch it, Fredlady."

"Guys, calm down," said Carly, always the peacemaker. "We've got a whole month to work on this. We'll all help each other and it'll be fun."

"Oh, why can't I just go jump in the sewer...what's the dumb project, again?"

"We have to choose an event from Viking history, write about it, and explain why you chose that event," Freddie reminded the group.

"See? We can all do this. The Vikings did all sorts of famous things, like..."

"...Like?" asked Sam smugly.

"Well, they _weren't_ all crazy, were they, Freddie?"

"What kind of person willingly wears a horned helmet?"

"Maybe they were hunting a cow, and they tried to lure it towards them with-"

_"Gibby!" _yelled Sam.

Carly sighed. "Okay, maybe it won't be so easy. But...I bet Spencer had an assignment like this. Maybe he can help!"

* * *

"I know just what you need!" said Spencer, abandoning his newest sculpture, 'Twinkie Fountain,' in order to help his little sister.

The kids were back at Carly's apartment and had explained their dilemma to Spencer, who was all too eager to help.

"Got that same project, and I still remember the event I used!"

"How can you still remember that?" asked Gibby.

"Cuz' it was the awesomest history story _ever!_" replied Spencer. "I'm telling you, that kid was a _mad genius_-"

"What kid?" Carly interrupted.

"The kid in this story," answered Spencer, typing something into Zaplook. "GOT IT!"

"A good story?"

"Yep. Four little words; 'Hiccup the Dragon Whisperer.' "

There was an awkward silence in the room which Sam broke with, "You've _got _to be kidding."

"Spencer, we need to use something that actually _happened_..."

"This _did _happen! They've found pictures and runes and a big book talking about it! Please listen to it."

"No."

"Pretty please?" asked Spencer, giving Carly his puppy-dog eyes-and-quivering-lip face.

"All _right, _we'll play along for a few minutes..."

"YEAH!" cried Spencer, hopping onto the couch and motioning for Carly and her friends to join him. "Get ready to hear somethin' you ain't _never_ heard before!"

* * *

Carly had said she would listen to the story for a few minutes, but even she was sucked in. Spencer was right...it wasn't like anything they'd heard before.

The story was about a tribe of Vikings who lived on the faraway island of Berk, and had spent centuries battling ferocious dragons of all shapes and sizes. The dragons were tough, and the Vikings had to be tougher: killing a dragon was the greatest deed a Viking could do on Berk. But there was one Viking who wasn't like the others. His name was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, and he was known as the worst Viking in all the land. He was small and thin, couldn't lift a hammer, couldn't swing an ax...but as Spencer put it, oh my, could he use his brain. He built a special cannon to shoot down dragons, as he desperately wanted to kill one to impress the chief of the tribe - his father. The cannon actually worked, but no one believed he had shot anything. Hiccup went looking for his catch and discovered that he had downed a Night Fury, the rarest and most hated of all the dragons. If he could kill it, he would be forever immortalized as Berk's greatest hero. But he couldn't, he just couldn't kill the creature. His heart wouldn't let him. So he freed the dragon (to Carly's delight and Sam's disgust) and helped it fly again, as its tail-fin had been damaged in the crash. Hiccup named him Toothless, and they became the closest of friends. Together, they killed the Dragon Queen, who controlled the dragons and forced them to raid Berk. They saved dragonkind, gained the respect of the Vikings and ended the Viking-Dragon War. But the victory came at a cost; part of Hiccup's left leg was lost in the battle. But just as Hiccup helped him fly, Toothless helped his friend walk.

Sam actually smiled at this, and Carly cried a little. Gibby had ducked under the coffee table when the Hideous Zippleback had shown up, and missed quite a bit of the story, but all the kids were mesmerized.

"That rocked, Spencer!" said Freddie. "Man, I wanna meet that Hiccup guy - "

"That girl, Astrid? I bet I could take her on and win," Sam fantasized.

"Yeah...but that's not the ending. The ending's sad," said Spencer quietly.

"Huh? Why?" asked Carly.

"You see, other people wanted the dragons for themselves, and they'd attack the Vikings," Spencer continued. "One night...they don't really know how it happened...but after one raid, Hiccup wasn't exactly...you know...alive."

"...They killed him?"

Spencer nodded. "That was when the Vikings decided that it wasn't safe on Berk anymore. So they left, with the dragons, and no one ever saw them again."

All were silent, even a little reverent. Then Sam said, "There's no way any of that was true."

"Yeah," Carly quickly agreed, feeling the need to get it all out of her mind. "Thanks, Spence, but we've got work to do."

And the kids walked upstairs to Carly's room without another word.

* * *

Later that night, after her friends had gone home following a fruitless search for project material, Carly lay awake in bed thinking about Spencer's story.

_Hiccup...Toothless...Night Fury...Astrid...Stoick...Dragon Whisperer..._words and names floated around in her head until she finally fell asleep.

She dreamed. She felt like she was flying, and she could hear a strange, airy voice.

_All is not lost, the story is not yet over. You can change the past, Carly Shay._

_Do you have the courage to change the past?  
_


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay, it's Chappie 2 time! I want to thank everyone who looked at the first chapter, all 16 of you. Don't be shy, please review! If you actually read the first chapter, then please enjoy the next one, where things get...weird.**

**DISCLAIMER: Neither iCarly nor HTTYD belongs to me.

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Gray clouds covered the sky, and there was a slight drizzle. Typical weather for Seattle, and the perfect weather for museum-going.

"Freddie, please wear your mask!" Mrs. Benson argued with her son.

"Mom, we're _in public._"

"But all those _dusty_ and _rusty_ old museum things! You could breathe in some thousand-year-old microbes and catch the Black Plague!"

Needing to start the project (and needing to free her mind of dead Dragon Whisperers and dreams about 'having the guts to change the past,' or whatever that dumb voice kept saying,) Carly had convinced Spencer to take her, Sam, Freddie, and Gibby to the History Museum to see the new Viking exhibit. Spencer was actually cool about it - Carly figured that he was going to use this opportunity to prove that his story _was_ true - but when Freddie's mother had discovered their plans, she had insisted that she accompany them to protect her darling Fredward from the "Historical Germs of Untimely Death." Hence the argument Freddie and his mom were having over the germ mask while the group was waiting in line.

Although she'd never admit it, Carly found that watching Mrs. Benson grab Freddie around his neck in some kind of wrestling move as she forced the mask onto him was actually kind of amusing. Sam certainly thought so, as well as the other museum patrons.

Once they'd gotten their tickets, the gang headed for the Viking exhibit. Despite Mrs. Benson's near-hysterical rant about how violent it would be, everyone found it quite interesting. Freddie spent the whole time studying the intricate models of the longboats; Spencer observed the paintings and declared them to be very avant-garde; Sam kept her eyes glued to the weapons, was delighted to learn that girls were trained to be warriors as well as the boys, and proudly showed Carly her favorite artifact, a shield which had a spot of blood on it; Gibby insisted that _he_ could have been a Viking, that all he needed were some muscles and they wouldn't mind if he took his shirt off; Mrs. Benson was impressed by the tone of the exhibit, which tried to say that the Vikings being bloodthirsty warriors was just a stereotype; Carly looked everywhere, but didn't see anything about dragons.

* * *

"So basically, they started raiding, they raided for about four hundred years, then they stopped raiding," quipped Sam as they gathered for a progress report.

"Maybe there was some _really famous_ raid we could use for the paper," suggested Freddie.

"Freddie, I told you that you were _forbidden_ to structure your report around any violent event!"

Carly sighed to herself. This was getting them nowhere.

"I still think you guys should listen to me," said Spencer.

"No, Spencer!" snapped Carly. "We're not doing that nutty little fantasy, _everyone knows dragons aren't real - "_

"I didn't know Vikings had cannons," said Gibby, pointing off at something.

Everyone turned to see what he was talking about. The exhibit turned a corner and continued into another room, and the shadow of something vaguely cannon-like could be seen on the wall.

Carly would never be completely sure just why she had gotten up and started walking. Something just made her. She slowly walked into the next room, followed by her friends.

It _was_ a cannon, or something like it. Around it were clustered a variety of random artifacts, in glass cases. There was a fur vest, a small knife, a helmet with stout, curved horns. Then the artifacts got stranger; there was some kind of weird harness thing made of stitched-together leather straps, a twisted and rusty piece of metal that was long past identification of its use, a leather saddle that wasn't quite like any saddle that Carly had seen before - it was unusually flat; and the last case was filled with yellowed papers with elaborate drawings, obviously done by a careful hand. At the center of all the papers was a leather-bound sketchbook, opened to a page showing a picture of what looked a little like a cat...a cat with bat wings and a tail fin.

"Why'd they stick all this together?" asked Spencer.

Freddie approached a large plaque on the wall of the room and read from it. " 'These artifacts were all found in a tomb located on an unnamed island, part of an archipelago north of Scandinavia. Statues and paintings of dragons adorned the tomb and its entrance, which are believed to have been placed to guard the tomb's occupant. Forensic analysis suggests the occupant was a young man, only 18 years old at the time of death, and that the cause of death was external. The victim was punched, cut in the arm and leg and kicked multiple times before being drowned, as evidenced by a depiction in the tomb of the body lying in a tide pool when discovered. No name is found anywhere in the tomb.' "

"What's external mean?" Gibby asked.

"That they whacked him off. Killed the guy. Probably some kind of sacrifice," answered Sam.

"Nu-uh, listen to _this,_" said Freddie, and continued to read. " 'The large number of valuable artifacts in the tomb suggests that the occupant was held in high regard and that his death was mourned by his tribe. The artifacts shown here were found closest to the body, suggesting personal importance to the person.' "

Spencer had been watching Carly the entire time, and had a small smile on his face. "You don't say...wonder who it was, don't you, Carls?"

That was when the lights flickered and went out.

* * *

Mrs. Benson screamed and grabbed at who she thought was Freddie but turned out to be Sam, who screamed even louder. Spencer stumbled into Freddie, knocking them both against the wall.

"Everyone, stop!" yelled Carly, who was even more scared than they were.

She started to feel along the wall, looking for a way out, when she heard a strange noise, like humming. It sounded like it was coming _from the wall._ As Carly moved farther along, the noise got louder.

"You guys hear that?" she asked.

"Yeah," squeaked Freddie.

_"We're going to be blown up!"_ screeched Mrs. Benson.

Suddenly, Carly could feel wood at her fingertips. Intricately carved wood. The humming got even louder. Next, she found a large handle embedded in the wall. Still louder grew the humming.

Instinctively, Carly pulled at the handle. To her shock, the wall swung open. She'd found a door.

But there hadn't been any doors in the room.

"Um, guys?" said Carly, peeking her head through the opening in the strange door. "I think I found a..."

There was a noise like a thunderclap, and Carly lost her balance and stumbled through the opening. She didn't land on the floor. There was no floor.

_"I'm at home in bed! I'm at home in bed! I'M AT HOME IN BED!" _Carly screamed as she fell through the black nothingness.

She could faintly hear her friends screaming, too.

The humming grew to a deafening roar.

Then all was still.

* * *

**Next chapter: The gang finds themselves in a **_**very**_** strange place, Sam encounters a worthy opponent, and the girls meet someone strangely familiar...**


	3. Chapter 3

**This is it, The Chapter We've All Been Waiting For...the first meeting. I hope you like it. Thank you very much. Oh, and by the way, if you already have How to Train Your Dragon on DVD, I'm **_**so totally**_** jealous of you. I don't have a chance of getting it until **_**Christmas**_**...at the **_**least.**_** And then there's the possibility that my parents will hook me up with **_**Toy Story 3,**_** which I **_**really **_**don't want to see for a third time. Once was enough. All right, end of rant, on to story!**

**DISCLAIMER: Neither iCarly nor HTTYD belongs to me.

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_It was strangely cold. There was a slight breeze. A bird was chirping. There were...outdoor noises._

Sam opened her eyes. She was lying on her back in a grassy clearing, surrounded by trees and bushes.

_Okay, so I must've gotten tased, and Security dumped me in the park. Yeah, that's it._

She breathed in deeply and paused. This wasn't Seattle air. It was colder and...purer.

Sam looked up. The sun was shining brilliantly, and the sky was a deep blue, with not a cloud in sight.

_No way I'm in Seattle._

"Carly?" she called out, quickly getting up. "Spencer? Freddifer, where are ya?"

Something rustled behind her.

Sam whirled around, hands held out in a karate maneuver, ready to dispatch whatever was brave enough - or stupid enough - to mess with her. A bush behind her was shaking, like something was inside it.

Cautiously, Sam approached the suspicious bush, looked it over, then kicked it vehemently. No anguished scream or death rattle.

She knelt down and yelled into the bush, "I've got a _fork!_ I took it from the museum restaurant!"

No answer.

Bracing herself, Sam crawled into the bush. Almost immediately, she emerged into another clearing, much larger than the one she'd first found herself in.

Across the clearing from her was a large, old pine tree. And wedged into its trunk was an axe. But it was no ordinary axe.

Sam took note of the craftsmanship and designs carved into the axe's blade as she slowly walked towards it.

_Looks a heck of a lot like one of those Viking axes, _she thought. _Meh, probably just a coincidence._

She remained blissfully unaware of the pair of icy blue eyes watching her.

Sam sat down on a rock and pulled out her cell phone. Wherever she was, the place had suckish reception. She typed a quick text message to Carly and Freddie: _Where r U guys? Im not in Seattle anymore, thats 4 sure._

"And...send!"

"YAAAAAAH!"

"AAAAACCKKK!"

Sam bolted up just in time to see someone burst out at her from the trees. Screaming, she hurled herself at the intruder. They wanted a battle? Momma would give em' a war.

* * *

The beeping of her phone woke her up.

"Huh? What?" said Carly groggily, opening her eyes.

She was lying in a large cove, beside a pool of sparkling water.

_Weird. I didn't know the museum park had a pond._

Her phone was sitting a few feet away, loudly announcing that she had recieved a text message.

Still tired, Carly crawled over and checked it. From Sam. It said: _Where r U guys? Im not in Seattle anymore, thats 4 sure._

_And neither am I,_ thought Carly, noticing the pleasant weather.

The peaceful silence was abruptly shattered by a piercing scream, way too close to Carly's ears. _Two_ piercing screams, actually. The first one she didn't recognize, though it sounded like a girl, but the second was undoubtedly...

"SAM!"

Terrified for her friend's safety, Carly looked around frantically for a way out of the cove. She found a dirt path leading upwards and raced towards it. The entrance, however was blocked by a shield, wedged between two rocks.

_It looks like a Viking shield,_ she thought.

Just then, Sam screamed again, bringing Carly back to reality. She ducked under the shield, knocking her head in the process, and raced up the path.

The screams were close, real close. It was obvious now that a fight was going on.

Carly ran blindly forward, yelling out, "Sam! Sam! I'm coming!"

She dashed through a bush, into a large clearing...and stopped dead.

In retrospect, she probably should have been expecting this.

Sam was halfway on the ground and halfway sitting up, screaming her head off. Beneath her was pinned another girl, about their age, also screaming her head off. Sam was apparently trying to scratch her opponents' eyes out or something, while the new girl was kicking Sam and trying to smack her with a branch.

"What is going _on here?_" Carly asked incredulously.

The new girl looked up, pausing her attack, shocked to see Carly, which gave Sam the opportunity to pry the branch from her hand and violently flip her onto her stomach.

_"SAM!"_

_"CARLY!"_

"All right, all right, I'll _stop!"_ groaned the girl. "...Where were _you _trained..."

Sam leaned over her rival and let out a scream so shrill, it would have made a dog whistle seem perfectly audible to humans.

"And _that _ is what happens when you mess with Momma."

"What in Midgard...oh, my..." a new, nasally voice stammered.

Carly and Sam turned around and were met with a strange sight.

Standing before them, scared out of his wits, was a teen-aged boy, barely older than them. He was a brunette, had emerald green eyes and a few sprays of freckles, and was as skinny as a broomstick. But what caught Carly off guard was the way he was dressed; the boy wore a green tunic with a fur vest - like at the museum - brown cloth pants, and fur boots...make that _one _fur boot. His left leg was gone. In its place was a stout, metal hooky-thing.

_No way...this can't be...?_

Sam screamed again, charging at the new visitor, who shrieked in terror and tried to flee, but was slammed against a tree-trunk by Sam.

"No, no, please don't kill me, _please _don't kill me, I want to live, I want to _live!_" cried the helpless boy.

"Sam, stop it! I am _so _sorry," Carly said to the boy, pulling Sam off him.

The boy stared at both of the girls in wonder. "...W-Where'd y-you two c-come from?"

_"Oh, let me at her!"_ yelled the other girl, getting up and starting to move towards Sam.

_"Astrid?"_ asked the boy.

"You know this chick?" asked Sam. "She jumped me!"

"Well, _you _were eying _my _axe!" The girl called Astrid spat back.

"I don't need your dumb ol' axe, I got a _fork!_"

"O-_kay,_ innocent bystander freaked out! Need explanation!" the boy said.

There was an awkward silence.

"...Sinus Congestion Boy's right," said Sam. "Sorry for looking at your precious little axe wrong. I'm Sam and this is my friend Carly."

"Astrid Hofferson," said the girl, "and _this _is Hiccup," gestering to the boy while giving Carly a look which said, 'He's mine. Don't even think about it.'

_"Hiccup?" _ asked Sam, now thinking what Carly had been thinking.

"Not the greatest name, I know," replied Hiccup, "but it could be way worse. I have a friend named Fishlegs."

"Got one called Fredward and another called Gibby," said Sam, relaxing.

"Look, we'd love to stay," said Carly, feeling the need to get away from here, "but we've got to find Gibby and my brother Spencer and Freddie's mom-"

"That madwoman Ruffnut found?" asked Astrid.

"You know her?" said Carly hopefully.

"Has she got a big orange box, 'bout as tall as your little boyfriend over there?" asked Sam.

"Er...yes. We're not quite sure what it's for," replied Hiccup.

"You _don't _want to know."

"We should get you back to the village. Chief Stoick'll want to meet you," said Astrid, taking charge. "Follow me."

As the quartet walked off, Hiccup whispered to Carly, "_What _is a sinus congestion?"

"...It's not that important. Just don't ever say it to her."

Hiccup nodded and walked on. Once he was ahead of her, Carly and Sam exchanged shocked looks, and Carly silently mouthed, _What is going on?

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**Next chapter: We learn that eccentric artists, overprotective mothers and no-nonsense Viking chiefs don't mix, while Sam and Gibby put their diplomacy skills to work and Carly's worst fears are confirmed, to Spencer's delight.**

**If you found this entertaining, _PLEASE REVIEW! _I accept Anonymous!**

**~A. Kingsleigh  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi, everyone! I've been checking the stats for this almost every day, and WOW! 6 faves and 6 alerts! I may sound stupid, but **_**trust**_** me, that's far more than I ever expected to get. Please keep it all coming! Oh, by the way, I changed one small detail in the last chapter. Let's see if you can find it...in the meantime, things are about to get very amusing on our beloved island of Berk.**

**DISCLAIMER: Neither iCarly nor HTTYD belongs to me.**

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In his lifetime, Stoick the Vast had dealt with many unpleasant obstacles, both in his personal life and as chief of the Hairy Hooligans. Until recently, he'd led the tribe in the Dragon War for years. His wife had been killed in one of these battles, leaving Stoick to raise their only son by himself, a son who was...let's face it...not exactly traditional Viking material.

Oh, yes, life had thrown _quite _a lot at him.

He would happily have done it all again to avoid the present situation.

"And _what_ if they actually find somethin'?" Stoick's friend Gobber asked for the hundredth time.

The aging chief sighed. "If the scouts find anything, Gobber, _which they will not,_ it will be dealt with. _Swiftly._"

All morning, a cloud of uneasiness had hung over the inhabitants of Berk, Vikings and dragons alike. Most of the village had been kept up the previous night by a raging thunderstorm, which was normal enough (the villagers liked to say that on the island, it snowed nine months out of the year and hailed the other three.)

But this storm had been different.

Amid the thunder and lightning, there had been..._screams._

Stoick had dismissed it as being just the wind, but the more superstitious Vikings had requested that someone be sent out to see if anything odd had blown in. With some prodding from Gobber and the teenagers, Stoick had reluctantly sent out a few scouts to investigate. It had been almost three hours, and none had returned yet.

"Probably been captured by trolls," Gobber was muttering. "They've been known to get _very_ enthusiastic over sock collectin'."

Stoick was on the verge of finally snapping and yelling at the crowd in the village center to go home when a roar pierced the air. A bright red Monstrous Nightmare glided in from the forest and landed amidst the crowd. It was Snotlout Jorgenson and Fireworm.

"You're not gonna believe this," Snotlout gasped, quickly approaching Stoick and Gobber. "We captured some-"

_**"UNHAND MY DARLING FREDWARD, YOU DISEASED NEANDERTHALS!"**_ a high-pitched voice screeched from a distance.

Everyone turned in surprise and wonder as a small group of Vikings, among them the Thorston twins, strode into the village, each carrying a squirming, yelling person over their shoulders.

Ruffnut carelessly dropped her load in front of the chief, saying, "Watch out for that one!" The others set down their prisoners gently, and then slowly backed away in apparent terror.

The Berkians were stunned. Were these people? They looked human enough, but the way they were dressed...how they looked so clean and pure...they must be from Asgard!

Stoick tried to hide his amazement as he fearlessly strode up to the three prisoners who were standing. One was a man, skinny and weak-looking, and two boys - one shirtless - who appeared equally harmless.

"Where do ye come from, and why have ye dared to invade our home?" Stoick interrogated threateningly.

The boy who had a shirt stammered, "Look, this is all a _huge_ misunderstanding, we _really_ don't know how we got here, we'd be _glad_ to leave you alone, wouldn't we, Spencer?"

The man, still in a stupor, nodded dumbly at these words.

Stoick knelt in front of the boy. "If you are lying to me, I swear I will cut out your..."

"You shall _not!_" yelled the high-pitched voice again.

Ruffnut's prisoner had risen to her feet, and the people now saw that it was a woman, with a mad look in her eyes, gripping a strange orange box as though it were keeping her alive. The woman raced to the boy and threw her arms around him. "I _refuse _to let you threaten my son, whoever you are! I'm warning you, I have pepper spray and a vauge idea of how to use it!"

Stoick did not like being talked to this way, and he responded, "I am the chief of this tribe, and you shall address me as such, _prisoner!_"

The woman set down her box, drew herself up to her full height, and replied, "That boy is my son Freddie, and _you _will call _him_ such, _germy!_"

The Berkians were not quite sure what this meant, but it sounded like an insult. Several drew weapons, preparing to fight the bold lady.

Stoick, however, had a feeling that if this woman was not pleased, there would be Hel to pay. "As you wish. I shall not harm your son." He turned to the man, who had been watching the scene with horror. "And what do you have to say about this?"

The man, whom the boy had called Spencer, blinked a few times, then managed to say, "It's kinda getting a little nutty here and I _really_ don't wanna be involved in this, so if it's okay, we're gonna go where things actually _make sense-_"

Stoick had had about as much as he could take. Vehemently, he grabbed the man by his neck and gruffly shook him, shouting, "You will answer me! Why have you come?"

"Wow..." whispered Spencer, "...you have a really big hand...that is the beefiest hand I've ever seen...it's like...a big, sweaty wrecking ball..."

_"Spencer!_ I'm sorry about that, we really do need to leave now," the boy called Freddie said, starting to back away, but he was caught by Tuffnut.

No one noticed the mother of Freddie hurriedly opening her box and whipping out two small bottles. Tuffnut, however, _did_ notice the horrible stinging which suddenly assaulted his eyeballs.

"See? I _told _you I had a vague idea of how to use it!" Freddie's mother shrieked as she got Tuffnut right in the face with her pepper spray.

Tuffnut yelped and let go of Freddie, who was immediately snatched up once again by his mother, who was now spraying him with the other bottle. "Don't worry, you're disinfected now...ugh, this place is disgusting..." she muttered to herself.

The Berkians backed away in fear. Did this woman plan to destroy them with her terrible spells?

The shirtless boy had not spoken at all during this, and Stoick now turned to him, waiting for acid to shoot out his nostrils or something.

The boy calmly said, "I'm Gibby. That's Spencer, Freddie, and Freddie's mom. All the lights went out where we came from and now we're here. We're lookin' for our friends Carly and Sam."

Stoick, elated at having actually gotten a real answer, didn't respond. Luckily, he didn't need to. Cries of, "Stoick, it's yer boy!" and "Hiccup's back!" suddenly filled the air. If anyone could deal with these lunatics, it was Hiccup.

* * *

"And _this _is Berk," declared Hiccup proudly as the quartet approached the village.

Carly had to admit, this was kinda fun. She knew she was dreaming but didn't remember going to sleep, that's what she had decided. In the meantime, she'd just go with it. Still...it all felt so real. Well, that wasn't going to stop _her._ Sam seemed to have different ideas, though.

"So your friend Ruffnut found Freddie's mom? Was anyone else with her?"

"Just a man and two boys," replied Astrid. "They're all just as crazy."

"Yeah, that's tellin' the truth."

A scream suddenly pierced the air.

"That sounded like Mrs. Benson!" Carly said. "What's going on over there?"

The four quickly rushed towards the village to find a large crowd in its center, anxiously watching something going on. As they saw Hiccup, several began greeting him and cheering.

"They know you?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I kinda forgot to mention, I'm the chief's son," Hiccup said.

Carly felt that sickening feeling in her stomach again. _This can't be Hiccup. Hiccup's dead. He was killed._

"Freddie? Spencer?" she called out, approaching the center of the crowd.

Spencer and Freddie were arguing with a large beefy man in a horned helmet, while Mrs. Benson stood watching, traumatized.

"I'm telling you, we _weren't_ sent by anyone," Spencer said. "If we could just find my little sister and her friend..."

"We're found!" called out Sam, walking boldly into the circle. "Hey, boys! What up, Freinstein?"

_"Sam? Carly?"_ Freddie asked incredulously. "How come you're not dead? Where have you two _been?_"

"Ah, you know, meetin' the locals, seein' the sights, what's going on here?"

"Are these invaders your friends?" Stoick asked Sam. "Why have you come to our village?"

"It's okay, Dad," interrupted Hiccup, seeing that things hadn't been going well. "They're just girls, and they're nice."

Stoick turned to Carly and Sam, one eyebrow raised questioningly. "Is that true? How did you come here?"

"Well, we..."

"Momma can handle this," Sam said to her friend. "Get over here, Gibby!" she called out, getting up on a platform in the center of all the chaos.

_Oh, no, _her friends thought.

"_HAIRY HOOLIGANS!"_ Sam yelled to the crowd. "I am Sam! This is Gibby, and that's Carly, Spencer, and Fredlumps, but call him Freddie! The crazy lady is Freddie's mom! The six of us, we come from a glorious kingdom far away...so far away, you couldn't ever reach it, so don't even try! This kingdom is known as Seattle! We come from the capital of Seattle, the shining city of Ridgeway! We were sent here by our king to learn from you!"

There was a moment of silence. Then Gobber yelled out, "Who's your king? I won't believe ya until I hear a name!"

Sam nodded. "Our king is named...Ted. He is a great man, but he is easily manipulated by his wicked advisers. One of his advisers, a horrible man called Mr. Devlin, plans to use his knowledge of the Vikings to overthrow our beloved king and seize his throne! He thinks he can fool us, because he wanted us to come here and learn from you about training dragons! But we plan to give this precious knowledge to Ted, that he may use it in his battle!"

The Berkians were starting to warm up to this girl. A battle? They'd be delighted to help.

"Quick question: _What up with Gibby?_" called out Spencer.

"I'm _getting _to that!" hissed Sam. "If you do not believe me, then I can prove it! My shirtless friend has known the wrath of Ted's advisers many times, and he can tell you."

"Tell them _what?_"

"Um...about the time Briggs and Howard became our co-principals," whispered Sam urgently.

"Okay...yeah, Sam's right, one time Mr. Howard gave me detention for being too Gibby, and Miss Briggs is always yelling at us with her bullhorn, it's awful," said Gibby.

"All we ask is that you teach us the art of training dragons, so we may vanquish these foes forever!" Sam finished grandly.

No one spoke.

Then the crowd erupted in cheers.

* * *

After the initial excitement had calmed down, Sam approached her friends. "How great am I?"

"Sam, that was _amazing!_ They totally love us," said Carly happily.

"Hey, I do what I do."

"Good work. I think Dad's starting to like you guys," said Hiccup, coming up to the group. "Your secret's safe with me and the other teens," he whispered.

"Wait, they didn't buy it?" asked Freddie, getting worried.

"You can trust them. Besides, Toothless will make sure they don't say anything."

"...Toothless?" Spencer asked, smiling at Carly, who looked sick.

Hiccup nodded and then whistled shrilly.

There was a loud thumping noise behind them, and something warm suddenly shoved Carly in the back. She turned around and screeched.

It was a black, cat-like dragon, with bright green eyes.

Just like Spencer had described it. A Night Fury.

The creature bounded past Carly and began nuzzling Hiccup.

"Hey, bud. I've got some new friends for you to meet," he said to the dragon. "Carly, Toothless. Toothless, Carly."

_I'm _not _dreaming, _Carly thought._ This is real._

_This boy is going to die._

What she said was, "Hi...Toothless."

As Hiccup introduced Sam and Freddie to the dragon, Spencer knelt beside Carly and whispered in her ear, "How's the whole 'nutty little fantasy' idea treating you, Carls?"

Carly didn't answer. She was too busy trying not to go hysterical.

* * *

**Next Chapter: The gang gets a little dragon bonding time, and Carly makes a special new friend.**

**Whew! It's approximately 2:50 in the morning as I type this. I think this may be the longest chapter I've ever written for, EVER_._ With that in mind, please encourage me by reviewing! Your reviews are what keep this story afloat!**

**~A. Kingsleigh  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Yee-haw, I'm on a roll! This story is getting **_**very**_** good reception so far, plus I've implemented OPERATION: GET HTTYD. This is my plot to get How to Train Your Dragon for Christmas. The first step, Eliminate the Competition, has been completed: I specifically told my mom that I DON'T want **_**Toy Story 3,**_** and the message got across. I told her that HTTYD was out now, and that I'd like to have it. However, that translated into, "I want it moved to the top of our Netflix queue." There's a short wait, so it'll be a while before I begin the second step, Remind Mom how great HTTYD is. In the meantime, please enjoy the next chappie. Solartiger, this one's for you.**

**DISCLAIMER: Neither iCarly nor HTTYD belongs to me.

* * *

**

"Welcome to Dragon Training!" Hiccup announced grandly to his new friends.

"I hope Mom doesn't show up," said Freddie to himself as the group walked into the large stone arena on the outskirts of Berk.

Freddie and Gibby were more than a little scared, but Spencer was ecstatic. "Yeah, let's git it _on!_" he cried, jumping up and down. "Carly, you ready to for this? Carly?"

Carly was behind the rest of them, trudging slowly and struggling to keep her eyes open. "I'm comin', I'm up!" she called, catching up.

"You okay? You look tired," said Freddie.

"I just had a rough night...what with everything that happened yesterday," Carly lied. She'd had _that dream_ over and over, and it had felt even more real.

"Okay, are we all here?" asked Hiccup. He looked over the group, then paused. "Where's Sam?"

Yes, where _was _Sam?

"Hey, what up? Sorry I'm late."

They all turned to ask Sam what she'd been doing, and their mouths dropped open.

The blonde had shed her modern-day Seattle garb for something a little more...Viking-ish.

Sam was dressed in a tank-top-like shirt made of chain-mail, with metal shoulder guards. She had on brown pants, and over those a black leather skirt...covered in sharp spikes. Her hair was down, and she wore a leather headband like Astrid's. Gone were her sneakers, and in their place were thick fur boots.

"You like it, guys?" she asked her friends, who just continued to stare.

"...Just when I thought she couldn't get any more terrifying," Freddie stammered.

"Okay, if we're done with that, let's get started," said Hiccup, returning to the task at hand. "Now, if you're gonna fool Dad and Gobber and the others, you're gonna have to _actually _learn about training dragons. And to do _that,_ you'll need a dragon."

He whistled shrilly, like he'd done to call Toothless the evening before. Without warning, several roars were suddenly heard coming from the large doorways around the edge of the ring.

And out came the dragons.

Carly was stunned. All her life, she'd thought that dragons pretty much looked the same; big and ugly. This was _definitely _not true. The dragons which emerged from the various rooms and burst into the ring were all shapes and sizes. They were blue, red, green, brown, one was covered in spikes, another had two heads, one was _on fire..._

"Spencer, I'm scared," she whispered to her brother, who wasn't listening _at all._

"So what do we do first, Dragon Tamer?" he said enthusiastically.

"Earn their trust. A dragon chooses its rider, not the other way around," answered Hiccup. "So who wants to go first?" he asked, smiling.

No one moved, still amazed at the dragons.

"All right, then...Gibby! You're up!"

Awkwardly, Gibby stumbled toward the herd of dragons. "...Hi, g-guys," he stammered. "...I'm G-Gibby, and I t-taste awful."

The dragons looked him over, then went back to dashing around the ring.

"What happens now?" he called to Hiccup.

"Don't follow them. Unless you're tired of living, you'll let _them _come at _you._"

"I love life!" yelled Gibby, standing ramrod straight.

A small, stout, brown dragon heard him and came fluttering over on its tiny, bee-like wings. It hovered around Gibby, who was trying desperately not to breathe or scream, sniffed him a few times, then plopped onto the ground in front of him, looking at Gibby patiently.

Hiccup walked to Gibby and stood beside him. "Stick out your hand," he said.

Slowly, Gibby reached toward the dragon, his hand quivering with anticipation and terror. The dragon looked at it inquisitively, blinked a few times, then pushed his snout into Gibby's hand.

His friends gasped, and Freddie whispered "Fantastico," under his breath. Gibby stood still in shock, then began to gently pet the dragon, which it seemed to enjoy immensely. "What's this one called? Is it a boy or a girl?"

"We call this kind a Gronckle," explained Hiccup, "and this one's a girl. You get to name her."

"Her name is...Gabby. Gabby the Gronckle!" said Gibby proudly, continuing to pet his new friend.

"See? _Unbelievably _hard, don't you think?" Hiccup said to the others, with a twinge of good-natured sarcasm. "_Now _who wants to try it?"

This time, everyone yelled, "Me! Me! _**ME!**_"

* * *

Sam happily declared that if Mr. Devlin and the rest of the freak teachers at school were as good at teaching as Hiccup, she'd fall asleep in their classes only every other day...maybe even once a week.

Their new friend had taught them many interesting and important things about their dragons; they were _not,_ under _any _circumstances _whatsoever _to feed them eel. They loved sweet grass, and would roll around in it for hours. If you scratched them in a certain spot under their chin, they'd fall asleep just like that. They were attracted to light, and would follow beams of it around. Most important of all, dragons were not ordinary animals. They were _smart,_ and you had to treat them that way.

Furthermore, the members of the gang had found their dragons. Gibby had Gabby, and Sam had won over a Monstrous Nightmare which she decided to call Taser ("Because I love tasers," she had said.) Freddie had been cornered by a Deadly Nadder, which then proceeded to lick him on the face, prompting Sam to remark that it must be desperate. Ignoring her, Freddie named his dragon Techie. Spencer's experience had been the most interesting by far. All the dragons had shied away from him...well, all except the Boneknapper. The huge, bone-coated reptile had picked Spencer up, tossed him into the air, and positioned itself so that he would land on its back, roaring proudly to itself. Spencer assured Hiccup that he was totally cool about it, and bestowed the Boneknapper with the name of Jolly Roger, Roger for short. By the end of the day, all the friends had their very own dragon.

Except for one.

"It's official: _they all hate me!_" an exasperated Carly yelled, sitting down.

"Ah, you're just being a priss," Sam replied.

"I'm sorry, did you not see them all _team up _to try and barbecue me?" Carly snapped.

"I'll admit it, that's never happened before," said Hiccup, trying to seem positive about Carly's repeated failures with the dragons.

Dejected, Carly leaned against the wall of the arena. "Maybe I should just...AAHH!" She had almost sat on something scaly.

She quickly sat up and turned around. Curled next to the wall was the tiniest dragon she'd seen so far. It was a sky blue, with a gold stripe running down its back. It had bright yellow eyes, and it was hissing at her. A Terrible Terror.

"Yeah, go ahead, roast me," said Carly sarcastically to the dragon. "I taste better that way, but don't overcook me. I'd get really crunchy."

To her surprise, the dragon stopped hissing. It cocked its head to one side, observing her, then it got to its feet and ambled toward her, squawking loudly.

Sam gripped Carly's arm. "Don't come near her," she said to the Terror.

The Terror hissed at Sam and spat a tiny fireball at her, then bounded to Carly.

"Uh...Hiccup, what's wrong with this one?" Carly asked.

"Fishlegs picked her up in a cave a few weeks ago," he answered. "She doesn't go near the others. The only time she ever comes out of this corner is when she hears a joke...yeah, I don't know."

"...I'm good with jokes," said Carly timidly. She hesitantly stroked the Terror. "Do you think I'm funny?" she asked it.

As if in reply, the Terror snuggled closer to her.

"Must've seen you flapping your hands and shrieking your head off an hour ago," Sam said, giving her friend a congratulatory pat on the shoulder. "Nice job, kid."

"You need a name," said Carly to her friend.

The Terror looked at her with anticipation, and its yellow eyes sparkled like a crystal..._a crystal._ Could crystals even be yellow?

"Do you like the name...Crystal?"

The Terror squawked with pleasure, flapping its wings energetically.

Carly laughed. "Crystal it is, then."

While the others played with their flying dragons, Carly leaned against the wall, snuggling Crystal in her lap. She had really wanted a big dragon, and Sam would probably tease her over this, but the small Terror gave her a...feeling. A warm, special, happy, unexplainable feeling.

Maybe being stuck in this crazy place wasn't so bad.

Now, if she could only get rid of that dream...

* * *

**Next chapter: Enemies on the horizon! Things get real fighty real fast as the gang learns that all is not well in the Viking world.**

**WAIT! Before you leave, I have something to say. As I am yearning to know what the heck I'm doing that's so right, I'd like to give you all a little assignment. If you're gonna review, then as part of the review, please tell me the best and/or funniest part of the story so far, in your opinion. I'm curious about what you think, I really am!**

**And for those who are wondering; yes, Crystal _was_ inspired by the original Toothless.**

**~A. Kingsleigh  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, here we go. The exposition is more or less over, and now the REAL story is going to begin, for better or for worse. I know what I want to happen, but I'm still not sure how to get there...oh, well, let's just make it up. Hang on to your hats, people!**

**DISCLAIMER: Neither iCarly nor HTTYD belongs to me.

* * *

**

Over the next seven days, the people of Berk and their visitors slowly but surely accepted the strange events, and actually began to enjoy each others company. Stoick, Gobber and Spencer were frequently seen together, despite their rocky start. Gibby and Fishlegs Ingerman were bonding over the fact that they both had Gronckles, and Fishlegs taught his friend all the essential statistics on the dragons. Hiccup was showing Freddie some blueprints for his new inventions, and Freddie had offered several suggestions which Hiccup found _very _useful, and he asked Freddie to help him with a new, top-secret project, which the techie eagerly agreed to. Sam and Astrid had become close companions, and spent much of their time in the forest, teaching each other "all kinds of new ways to break bones," as Sam said. Mrs. Benson ran around the village wearing plastic gloves and performing "community service," which mainly consisted of spraying everything in sight with her disinfectant, but even she seemed to be settling down, having finally been convinced to switch out her Seattle clothes for Viking garb, as the others had already done. That left Carly.

She drifted among her friends and her brother, but spent most of her time in the training arena, getting to know Crystal. The energetic little Terror was proving herself to be quite a spitfire...figuratively _and_ literally. Any rival dragon which dared to approach her human friend quickly felt the wrath of a carefully-aimed fireball, but that wasn't all. Crystal would always rush ahead of Carly whenever she took a walk, scouting the path for living creatures and screeching her head off at any she found. When the route was deemed safe, Crystal hopped onto Carly's shoulder and stayed there for the ride, sticking out her forked tongue at passing villagers, as though they weren't lucky enough to have been chosen. Carly would scold Crystal for this behavior, but the dragon would gaze at her with those bright yellow eyes shining soulfully, and be forgiven, usually. Oh, _yes,_ Crystal was quite the mischievous little reptile. But she would follow no one but Carly and behave when Carly told her to, and Carly knew that, despite her quirks, Crystal had a good heart.

When the group had first arrived, it was decided that Freddie, Spencer and Gibby would stay at the Chief's house with Hiccup, while Carly, Sam and Mrs. Benson would stay at the Hoffersons' house with Astrid.

That was where Carly was when the battle began.

* * *

Carly jolted awake, breathing heavily. _That dream with the freaky voice again. Oh, why can't I have different dreams every night like normal people?_

She lay back down on her bed, trying to calm herself. _It was just a dream...all in my head...nothing bad's happening..._

Suddenly, she heard the roaring of dragons outside, followed by Viking battle cries.

Now Sam and the others were waking up. "Wha' happenin'?" asked Sam groggily.

Astrid sat up, listening for a moment, then quickly got out of bed and started to put on her armor. "Come on, get up!" she said, shaking Sam.

"What's going on?" asked Carly, stumbling out of bed as well.

"Nothing good."

Mrs. Benson loudly refused to leave, saying that the world was ending and she was staying _right here,_ so the girls finished getting dressed and raced outside without her, Astrid grabbing her axe on the way out.

When Carly saw what was going on, she gasped in fear.

Several of Berk's houses were going up in flames...but not because of dragon's fire. The Berkians had their weapons and were fighting a large horde of dark, menacing figures, several of whom carried torches and were alighting the houses. Beyond, she could see small boats carrying more dark figures approaching the island's shores, and beyond those, a fleet of five or six ships anchored a short distance away. It didn't take a thorough examination to see that they weren't Viking ships.

One of the figures was unceremoniously slammed into a wall near the girls, and Carly got a good look at him. _Definitely _not a Viking. This guy was _way _too clean-shaven. But it was the man's helmet that got Carly's attention. It was much fancier than a Viking helmet, covering more of the wearer's head, with some simple designs etched into the metal. The thing was topped with a flourish of red feathers, and - wait. Carly and seen this kind of helmet in her history book countless times. These guys were...

_"...Romans,"_ Astrid spat. She gripped her axe bravely. "Go find Crystal and Taser! Don't let them out of your sight!" she yelled to her friends, then, uttering a piercing war cry, she raised her axe and charged into the fray.

Carly and Sam were happy to oblige.

* * *

_"Crystal! CRYSTAL!" _Carly shrieked as she ran desperately through Berk looking for her dragon.

All around her, the air was filled with shouts and unearthly screams as the Vikings and Romans went at it head-on. She'd had to duck in order to avoid a few axe swings, and she was pretty sure she'd jumped over a dead body back there.

The tell-tale squawking of a Terrible Terror reached her ears. _Crystal?_

Carly turned to see a Roman soldier, spear in hand, chasing a small blue Terror towards the training arena. _Her_ small blue Terror, to be exact.

Horrified, Carly chased after the pair, but didn't get very far before she was suddenly slammed against a stone wall. A Roman towered over her, pinning her to the wall by her throat, grinning evilly, a long, sharp sword in hand. He raised it over Carly's head slowly, obviously enjoying the fear he was inducing. Carly, unable to scream, merely whimpered in terror, preparing for the death blow...

_THWAP!_

The Roman soldier gasped, his eyes bulging practically out of their sockets, before falling to the ground dead, with five flaming arrows sticking out of his back.

Carly looked up and was greeted with the sight of Freddie, surveying his handiwork, grasping a...what the heck _was _that, anyhow?

It looked like the handle of a pistol attached to a thick wooden cylinder, with twelve holes cut into the front of it, a flaming arrow resting in each hole.

"You...thing...guy...WHAT?"

"I'll tell ya later! Go get Crystal!" yelled Freddie, running off.

Suddenly remembering what she'd been doing before her head had almost been cleaved in, Carly raced toward the training arena, hoping against hope that she wasn't too late.

* * *

The arena was empty.

Carly slowed her gait as she ran in, looking cautiously around for signs of something, or someone.

The arena was a distance away from the main part of Berk, and the sounds of the battle were muffled, though still there. The arena seemed gray, dark, and foreboding - like everything in it was dead.

Carly walked forward, her footsteps echoing ominously on the stones. What was happening?

"RAWR!"

Shrieking, Carly whipped around in shock, the deadly silence broken. Curled into a corner, shivering with fear, was Crystal.

Carly breathed a sigh of relief, forgetting the danger they were both in. "It's me, girl! Everything's gonna be okay," she said, walking to the dragon and leaning down to comfort her.

She was interrupted by a deep, mocking chuckle. Turning around, she found herself nose-to-blade with another Roman, this one taller and more evil-looking than the rest. This one really would kill her, she was sure of it.

"...What the heck's going on?" Carly managed to say, gathering Crystal into her arms.

The soldier smiled. "A curious girl, are you?" he laughed in a thick, unfamiliar accent. "Well, I suppose there is no harm in telling one who is dead already."

He knelt down to Carly's height. "The Dragon Whisperer. He knows things. Things our emperor would like to know. He would also like to meet some of the Dragon Whisperer's beasts...he thinks our people back in Rome would find them _very _entertaining. So, he sends us to...borrow a few of these dragons...and to invite the Whisperer to meet him."

All the pieces suddenly fit together. _The Romans are the ones who want the dragons. They attack the Vikings, like in Spencer's story. They invade Berk, and they..._

_...they kill Hiccup._

As if on cue, a large blue fireball struck the center of the arena, knocking the Roman to the ground and causing him to drop his sword.

Carly watched as Toothless zoomed downward and landed in the arena, Hiccup atop his back.

_**"YOU!"**_ the Roman hissed, getting to his feet and charging towards the boy. Hiccup, however, was too smart for him. He'd already dismounted Toothless, and when the Roman got close enough, nailed his adversary with an expertly thrown rock which sent the Roman spiraling backwards.

"Carly, come on!" he called out, getting back on Toothless and strapping his prosthetic into place. Carly jumped on behind him, Crystal on her shoulder, and Toothless leapt forward and bolted out of the arena, stomping on the Roman in the process. He wouldn't be getting up for a while.

* * *

When the quartet returned to Berk, they found that the actual battle was more or less over. The Romans were fleeing in their tiny boats back to their bigger ships, which were raising anchor and preparing to sail. That didn't mean the village wasn't still in an uproar.

The dragons were everywhere, roaring to themselves and to each other or just roaring out of fear, a group of Vikings were trying to corral the Roman prisoners, both sides shouting nasty threats at each other, and in the center of it all was Stoick, yelling at no one in particular to explain "What in the name o' Thor HAPPENED?"

"Hiccup's back! With Carly!" Fishlegs yelled, spotting our heroes as they rode into the village.

Spencer, terrified, rushed to his little sister's side as she tumbled off Toothless's back in a daze. "Carls! Carly, are you okay?" he asked, embracing her protectively.

Carly tried to answer, but she just couldn't manage to speak. Then...she heard it.

_This is only the beginning, Carly Shay. Greater trials await you on your quest._

_Your quest to change the past._

Carly buried her head in Spencer's chest and sobbed.

"There's a soldier in the training ring. He had her cornered," Hiccup tried to explain.

"Who were those nubs, anyway?" asked Sam. "What were they after?"

One Viking picked up a shield dropped by one of the prisoners and looked at it. "...Stoick..." he whispered.

Stoick looked at the shield's design, and his face paled.

The background of the shield was yellow, with a dragon design on it. A deep green dragon design, with glowing red eyes. It looked real enough to jump off the wood and kill them all.

"No..." Stoick gasped, to the surprise of the kids. "...Not Alvin."

* * *

**Next chapter: our heroes learn the legend of Alvin the Treacherous, and help Carly with a little detective work when she reveals the secret of her dream.**

**I suppose now is a good time to tell you that I have not read any of the How to Train Your Dragon books, so the villains of this tale aren't going to be entirely accurate in that respect. Instead, I'm going to write Alvin and the Romans based on what I know about them, and I'm creating a whole new back-story for Alvin..just so you know.**

**You know what to do, REVIEW!**

**~A. Kingsleigh  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Ahoy, ahoy! I have announcements! First I need to say; I FINALLY got this up. I can write a chapter pretty fast, actually - it's dragging myself onto WordPad and actually STARTING it that's the problem. Second, from this chappie onward I will be juggling this fic with my other one, **_**I Make The Path**_**, writing a chapter for one and then the other. Lastly, I see it fit to tell you that I am writing this chapter from the afterlife. Why? I took a look at Hiccup's Twitter page (****.com/UselessViking, it won't add the first part,****) and died of laughter when I saw THIS at the top of the page: "Odin knows Megamind is trying to measure up, but it never will. Points for effort, though."**

**Warning: Starting with this chapter, the T rating really goes into effect. This chapter contains a bit of somewhat graphic violence, including the chopping off of a limb, and just plain drama in general. You have been warned.**

**DISCLAIMER: Neither iCarly nor HTTYD belongs to me.

* * *

**

"So basically, you two invented a medieval machine gun?"

"Kinda. It has an inner container that rotates when you shoot an arrow, allowing the user to launch up to - "

"Ohhh..."

"What's wrong, Sam?"

"It makes my head sick...Freddo's voice, I mean."

In the aftermath of the attack on Berk and Stoick's unexpected reaction to the design on the shield, the Vikings had gathered in the Meade Hall while a course of action was decided upon. Freddie took the opportunity to tell his friends about the arrow shooter he and Hiccup had invented - the same weapon he used to kill the Roman threatening Carly - but no one seemed very interested, and Sam's remarks weren't helping.

To tell the truth, even Freddie was more interested in watching Stoick. It was clear from the atmosphere of worry that no one had seen the chief this shaken before. Whatever 'Alvin' meant, it was something _serious._

At the moment, Stoick was talking to his second-in-command, Snotlout's dad Spitelout, and the group was trying to appear as non-eavesdroppy as possible.

Stoick was shaking his head. "It doesn't make sense!" he exclaimed. "He was barely breathing! He said he was through with all of us!"

"And ya don't remember him sayin' he'd have his revenge if it took 'im until Ragnarok after what ya did?" Gobber quipped.

They couldn't take it anymore. "Dad, _who_ is this Alvin guy?" Hiccup asked as they all stood up.

"...It's nothin' to worry yourselves with."

"Uh, if there's a reason to be as freaked out as you are, then _we_ nearly got _pulverized_ by his little friends, so _yeah_, I think we can get worried!" Spencer retorted.

This earned him a dark look from Stoick as Gobber intervened, saying, "You really won't be that interested, it's quite the downer - "

"No. They're in the middle of this now. They deserve to know."

Stoick sat down, motioning for the others to do the same. "Gobber's right about it being a downer..."

* * *

_Stoick had been only four when the boat arrived. Not a ship, just a tiny lifeboat, adrift on the waves. The men pulled it in, and they all saw the yellow shield with the green dragon painted on it...and the coffin, only a few feet long and half as wide. They made plans to bury it - but that changed when its occupant began crying._

_Quickly ripping open the thing, they found a child nestled inside, only about a year or two old. The boy was wrapped in brightly colored cloth, adorned with designs in gold and silver thread. The villagers concluded that this was the son of a chief, presumed dead and set afloat. Stoick's father, Brandr the Heroic, chief of the tribe, declared that he would raise the child as his own, naming him Alvin. If only they could have seen where that decision would lead..._

_The years passed, and Alvin grew. By the time he was fifteen, he was faster, braver, and more fierce than any of the other teens. Stoick was proud of his adopted brother, and the two were very close. Although Stoick didn't like to brag, he had more or less taught Alvin everything he knew about being a Viking. No one else seemed to realize this, though..._

_It began on the night of a dragon raid. A Nightmare landed near the boys, preparing to torch the Meade Hall, when Alvin expertly tossed his sword at the creature, wounding it. Together, Stoick and Alvin stabbed the beast to death. After the battle had ended, the villagers found the dragon's body, and Brandr asked which of his boys had done the deed. Alvin proudly declared that __**he**__ had slain it - not mentioning Stoick. A glorious celebration was quickly put together, and Brandr bestowed Alvin with the title of "Alvin the Invincible." It was on that night that Stoick felt the first pang of jealousy against his brother. It was only the beginning._

_Her name was Valhallarama, she lived in Berk, and she was known as the finest Viking maiden in the Barbaric Arcipelago. All the young warriors clamored for her affection...but especially Stoick and Alvin. One black eye and several broken bones later, the two decided that they would let the girl choose which one she loved. Unfortunately, that seemed to be __**both**__ of them. Valhallarama would let one court her, then the other, first Stoick, then Alvin, then back to Stoick... it went on for about half a year. Neither boy liked it, but they were willing to bear it. At least Stoick was - until the afternoon he saw Valhallarama wearing a necklace adorned with a ruby carved in the shape of a heart, with an 'A' etched into its center._

_**'Trying to win her over with trinkets and things? He doesn't deserve her!' **__Stoick had said angrily to himself. Alvin, meanwhile, was later seen muttering to himself that "some women like more than just brawn, you idiot!" And so the rift grew larger._

_Two years later, Brandr the Heroic was dead. Killed by a Night Fury's blast. Although Stoick bowed his head and looked properly solemn at the funeral, he was smiling wickedly on the inside. Now he would be chief, and finally put Alvin in his place! The whole Valhallarama affair, plus the downing of more dragons by the so-called 'greatest Viking in Berk' had increased his jealousy. Alvin was not without blame, either, telling his friends that he would lead the Hooligans into a new era when he became chief. And there __**were**__ rumors that Brandr had been thinking of giving Alvin this honor._

_After the funeral, both young men demanded that these whisperings either be confirmed or dispelled at once. Brandr's second-in-command confessed that shortly before the tragedy, Brandr had entrusted him with a scroll, which he said contained the instructions for his succession. The scroll was immediately brought out, and to everyone's shock, it said that both Stoick and Alvin were brave, accomplished young Vikings, and that Brandr wished the matter of succession to be decided through a battle between them - the winner would recieve the throne._

_The people of Berk joyously gathered around the arena to witness what was sure to be a historic fight...and their wish was soon fulfilled. In that battle, both Stoick and Alvin let loose their pent-up frustrations at each other. It was brutal - swords clashed, Stoick's nose was broken, blood was spilt._

_Finally, it ended. Alvin knocked Stoick's sword out of his hand and pinned him to the ground, the tip of his blade hovering just above him. Stoick only faintly registered the cheering of the crowd or the blood still seeping from his nose...he only saw Alvin's smug, vengeful grin which said, "Your glory ends here. I'm the leader now."_

_Never._

_At that moment, something happened inside Stoick. Something terrible. With an unearthly roar, he knocked Alvin aside, jumped to his feet, and leveled his opponent with a punch powered by pure adrenaline, filled with fury and bloodlust. Then it seemed as though Stoick lost control of himself, for the next few moments were a blur. He felt himself pick up his sword, raise it, bring it down. He heard Alvin scream in anguished, unbearable pain, and the crowd gasp in terror. The worst of his anger spent, his vision began to clear, and he could see what he had done. Alvin was sprawled on the ground, beaten and bruised, barely breathing...with his right hand lying several feet away from him, next to Stoick's sword. Blood was gushing from the bony stump where it had once been._

_"Not today, __**traitor**__," Stoick snarled as he leaned over his opponent._

_"...Go on, then," Alvin whispered hoarsely. "Make this __**thing**__ your chief, then!" he said more loudly to the crowd, trying to pull himself up and failing. "You __**dare**__ to reject your __**greatest warrior**__?"_

_"How can you be great if you are maimed?" Stoick quipped haughtily._

_Alvin's eyes narrowed. "...I'll show you..." He was losing strength. "...I'll show you __**all**__...I am...__**finished**__ with all of you. And I shall have my revenge on __**you**__, former brother...__**IF IT TAKES ME 'TIL RAGNAROK!"**_

_Then he was still._

_Not checking to see if Alvin actually still lived, Stoick ordered him tossed into a hastily-made coffin and set afloat - not even with a boat, just the coffin. When he was out of sight, Stoick called the villagers together and declared that Alvin would no longer be known as "Alvin the Invincible," but "Alvin the Treacherous," for he had used his treachery and shifiness to blind them from the glory of their true leader...himself._

_In the years to come, Stoick the Vast led the Hairy Hooligans bravely in the Dragon War, took Valhallarama for his wife, and became a feared chief. But the memory of what he had done to the boy who had, at one time, been his greatest companion, never ceased to haunt him...

* * *

_

"I was a fool back then, a _heartless fool_," Stoick moaned, closer to tears than his own son had ever seen him. "I tried to forget what happened that day, but I never could. "So many nightmares...I vowed never to forgive myself...it was never his fault...I'd always wondered if he was still alive."

There was a moment of cheerless, almost appalled silence.

Then Sam remarked, "Well, not as bad as bein' stalked by a chipmunk hopped up on helium."

_**"SAM!"**_ the group reproached ferociously.

"Puckett, this is _serious chiz!_" exclaimed Freddie, daring to thump Sam on the head. "We've got a_ madman_ probably out to kill us all, and you're joking about..._about..._"

"Hey, it was just somethin' I was saying!" Sam replied defensively. "Carly, you think they're - Carly? Carls?"

Carly was gone.

* * *

"All right, _what_ is the matter with you?" Freddie asked when the teens finally found Carly sitting pensively by herself at the docks.

"...Oh! It's...it's you guys."

"Yeah, the people you left at the Meade Hall by themselves to hear a full-fledged_ horror story!_" said Sam angrily.

"Carly, ever since Spencer first told us about Berk, you've been acting nutty," said Freddie. "You have to tell us all what's up. _Now."_

"...I don't think you guys would get it. It's kinda...supernatural."

"What, you've been tormented by a god or something?" asked Ruffnut, sitting down beside her. "Trust me, I've been stuck with Tuff all my life. I _know_ weirdness."

Carly sighed. No getting out of this one.

She took a deep breath. "Can you guys keep a secret?"

Everyone said it a little differently - Snotlout came right out with_ "Nope,"_ while Fishlegs said, "Well, we could omit certain facts to retain_ most_ of it..." - but the general answer was 'no.'

"But we'd be happy to try!" said Hiccup quickly, seeing Carly's reaction.

"Okay...it's been going on for a while now...I'm having this weird dream, over and over."

All the Vikings instantly leaned forward.

"Odin's probably trying to send you a message!"

"I dunno, it's probably just Loki."

"Can it, butt-elf! _Obviously_ it's Alvin the Treacherous! He has mind-meld powers, and he's trying to - "

"WHAT? No, nothing like that!" protested Carly. "It's hard to explain."

"Tell us what happens," said Astrid. "Maybe we can figure out what it means."

"...I'm flying. Through...this mist. And I start hearing this voice, and it's telling me, 'You have to change the past, Carly Shay, you're the only one who can change the past!' Or some freaky monologue like that."

"What's the voice sound like?" asked Freddie.

"A woman, maybe forty-ish."

"Maybe it's someone from the afterlife. You knew anyone who died when they were that old?" asked Hiccup.

"No." Then an idea came to her. "Did you?"

Hiccup tensed for a split-second, so subtly you could barely notice it, then he hurriedly replied, "No, I didn't."

It didn't take the fibbing skills of Sam to see that he was lying.

Carly decided to let it slide, however. "So, we've got a weird voice, it _might_ be a ghost, and it's telling me I have to do something. Any theories?"

Fishlegs stood up energetically. "Well, I've read enough books to know a little about this kind of thing," which Snotlout and the twins rolled their eyes at, "but here's what I think; you came here for a _reason_, Carly. All of you did."

"Whaddaya mean?" asked Sam, who was really just tuning in to the whole thing.

"I mean, something brought you here," Fishlegs continued. "Fate? Destiny?"

"A blackout?" Sam quipped.

"...I'm lost," said Gibby innocently after a moment's silence.

"Whatever," said Carly. "At least I got it off my chest."

She stood up to go, then turned to her group of friends. "Thanks for listening, at least."

"Hey, it's one mystery solved," said Ruffnut warmly, and the others nodded. Hiccup, however, still seemed a little reserved.

"Guys? Guys?" It was Spencer, coming up the path. "Where's Mrs. Benson?"

* * *

**Next chapter: Yes, where **_**is**_** Mrs. Benson?**

**Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, it's DONE! Boy, was this a nightmare to write. I suffered for THE longest time trying to write Alvin's origin story without making Stoick seem like a soulless jerk. Trust me, though, Alvin may be a victim, but he's NOT innocent. Just you wait.**

**By the way, I've got another reviewing mission; Fishlegs' little speech which Sam rudely interrupts ("A blackout?") was inspired by a Disney movie. Correctly guess which one, and you will be congratulated in the next chapter! Until next time!**

**~A. Kingsleigh**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hear ye, hear ye! The Hopeful A. Kingsleigh has just published the eighth installment of her great saga of courage, adventure, and comedy, known to one and all as "iTrainDragons!"**

**Okay, now that I got THAT out of my system, I'd like to say hi before we begin...hi. Oh, and I'd like to announce the winner of my little contest. You remember the quote I noted in the last chapter, and how it was inspired by a Disney film? Well, if you guessed that it came from the just-released Disney movie **_**Tangled...**_**then you are correct! Congratulations to **_**.narnia**_** for getting it right! Sorry, I can't type your full name! By the way, I wrote a little oneshot for our new Tangled category (hint, hint.) But now, let's get on with this tale! What will happen next? Isn't it obvious - the reading of this chapter will happen!**

**NOTE: Starting with this chapter, I'm giving the story a little flavor by adding words and phrases in Latin for the Romans. These words will be in bold and **_**in italics.**_

**DISCLAIMER: Neither iCarly nor HTTYD belongs to me.

* * *

**

Marissa Benson had been really, truly _traumatized_ of germs only a few times in her life - by her standards, anyway. Most times, she had her box of medical supplies to save herself and Fredward if something went wrong, or at least her trusty bottles of disinfectant and a pair of gloves. But sometimes, Mrs. Benson would encounter a situation in which she was without these valuble weapons...completely exposed to the horrific bacteria crawling all around her.

Now was one of those times.

"AAAAAGGGGHHHHH! Haven't these people ever heard of _landscaping?_" Mrs. Benson lamented as she struggled through the thick foliage of Berk's forest. The way she'd ended up there was quite simple, really: Marissa had originally been determined to wait out the apocalypse in the Hoffersons' house, until something banged against the wall of the dwelling unceremoniously, only a few inches of wood away from her head. She had gotten dressed and bolted outside faster than you could say 'December 21st, 2012,' and soon was caught up in the thick of the battle. As far as she could tell, the Vikings of Berk were being attacked by people with feathers on their heads. _Feather People,_ Marissa decided.

One of said Feather People had spotted her, and she ran for her life towards the village outskirts. The man hadn't actually chased her, but eye contact was enough for Mrs. Benson. Unfortunately, she didn't know her way around the island like Spencer and the kids did, and now here she was - lost, covered in mud, and about to have a panic attack.

"...Happy thoughts...think happy thoughts...now, the village faces south. South is down, right? And it's also backwards...so if I go backwards...

Her navigation plans were cut short by a pesky root, which sent her sprawling to the hard ground.

"OH, WHO AM I KIDDING? I'M NEVER GETTING OUT! I'LL BE STUCK HERE, WANDERING AND WANDERING..._they'll call me...Marissa the Wanderer..._"

Mrs. Benson was interrupted by her gloomy monologue by a loud squawking, followed by "Crystal! Get back here! Crystal!" Then there was the sound of leaves rustling, and..."Mrs. Benson?"

"Carly!" Marissa exclaimed, joyfully getting up and constricting her rescuer in a disturbingly tight embrace. "You _dummy,_ don't you have any _idea_ how dangerous it is out here?"

"...Uhh, sort of, I guess?" was all Carly could manage. Okay, Astrid _had_ warned her that there were probably still some Romans hiding in the woods after the fight. And she _had_ thrust a sword in her hands before she left to go find Mrs. Benson - which had **not** been her idea, it was Fishlegs's - but she had no earthly idea how to actually use the thing.

"Come on, let's get back," said Mrs. Benson satisfactorily. "You do know the way back, don't you?"

"Actually, I was hoping Crystal could...sort of..."

"I should have known."

At this moment, Crystal began to sniff the air wildly. She squawked curiously, then stiffened abruptly, going alert. She sniffed the air again, then dashed off into the foliage.

"...Do that," Carly finished. She began to follow the Terror, looking back at Mrs. Benson, who had sat down again. "I thought you wanted to get out of here."

"Oh, _no_, not like that! I don't trust that overgrown lizard! Do you know how many times she's spat a _fireball_ at me? And when I was trying to disinfect you, no less! She's probably trying to lead me to some kind of lava pit, where I'll burn and die or - EEEEKKKKK!"

An owl had swooped down over the two, hooting loudly.

"I say we go with her, don't you?" And, dragging Carly by the arm, Mrs. Benson bolted off to find Crystal.

"Mrs. Benson, none of this looks familiar," Carly protested as she tried to free her arm.

"I'm sure you were just in hysteria about my disappearance and weren't paying attention. Walk faster."

Just then, Crystal leapt through the bushes and back into view and charged in the opposite direction, squawking with - Carly could tell - fear.

The two stood there for a few moments until Mrs. Benson suddenly asked, "Do you smell that?"

Carly sniffed the air._ Smoke._ Then she could hear something strange - _footsteps. Heavy ones._

They slowly turned around to see what was going on. And found a Roman glaring down at them.

The next thirty-or-so seconds were a bit of a blur for Carly. She remembered the man yelling something in Latin and trying to grab them. Mrs. Benson started screaming like she was being eviscerated, which wouldn't be too far from the truth if they were captured. She remembered pulling out the sword and waving it, shrieking something along the lines of "I'm warning you, I'm usually a pacifist!" Said sword was knocked unceremoniously out of her hands, her arms were roughly jerked behind her and tied together, and some kind of _revolting_ cloth bag was pulled over her head. She felt herself hoisted upwards and flipped upside down, then the feeling of swaying uncomfortably back and forth, accompanied by the heavy footsteps and the Roman shouting what sounded like a command. They'd been shanghaied. In under a minute.

She tried screaming for help - but the blood was starting to rush to her brain, her words became less and less coherent, and pretty soon she decided it would be better if she just shut up.

A few minutes later, the swaying and footsteps suddenly stopped, and Carly was violently thrown to the ground. The bag was ripped off her head, and she was briefly blinded by a bright light. As her vision cleared, she realized it was a campfire. A campfire in the middle of a large clearing, a campfire surrounded by at least a dozen Romans.

"You _thugs_!" Mrs. Benson screeched as her bag was removed. "I demand an explantion for this uncouth behavior immediately! I'll have you know that - "

The Roman nearest her drew his sword, raised it above his head, and yelled as he started to swing it down.

_**"Restiturunt."**_

The Roman abruptly lowered his sword, dropped to his knees and bowed his head respectfully. _**"Etiam, ducem," **_he whispered.

The gruff command had come from a shadowy corner of the clearing, and Carly watched as a tall, broad, muscular figure stood up and walked slowly toward them, accompanied by the eerie squeaking of metal.

When the figure stepped into the firelight, Carly and Mrs. Benson recoiled in horror. They didn't know where this guy had been, but they sure were glad they hadn't been with him.

The man was _hideous._ He had a leather patch sewn over his right eye, and there was something green leaking from the socket. There was a ghastly hole where his nose should have been. He was completely bald, and there were dozens of scars on his face and head. His right leg was just a crudely fashioned wood-and-metal prosthetic, rusting and rotting from years of neglect. His most striking feature, however, was his right hand - or lack thereof. Instead, attached to his wrist was a long, thin hook, old but still sharp. It looked more like a rapier twisted into a question mark.

_**"Parce iam. Volo denique nostram captivitatem,"**_ the terrifying man barked to the Roman, who continued to grovel. Then he turned to Carly. "Welcome, visitors. Don't worry, he shall not harm you."

"...Thanks, but..."

"And _who_ are _you_?" Mrs. Benson snapped aggressively.

The figure raised an eyebrow...the part of his face where an eyebrow would have gone, anyway. "I go by several names. Leader, Great One, Scourge of Rome's Enemies...but you, visitors, may refer to me as Alvin. Alvin the Invincible."

* * *

_Apparently,_ thought Carly a few minutes later, _when this nub says 'visitors,' he means 'defenseless prisoners we can slowly torment and have fun doing it.'_

She and Mrs. Benson had been plopped down a little too close to the fire for comfort, their wrists and ankles remained tied, and two Romans sat sentinel behind them, swords in hand.

Alvin was currently admiring the sword Carly had brought. "So Gobber became blacksmith after all, did he? All he was ever good for."

"How do you know that?" Carly questioned.

Alvin sighed dramatically. "Oh, mine is a long and sad tale, really not the stuff for ladies...of course, that didn't bother my former brother, I can tell."

Oh, dear.

"He told you _his_ side, I assume. How the selfish, wicked boy he was saddled with stole all his glory, and how he bravely defeated this boy, banished him from the only home he'd ever known, labeled him as _treacherous._"

"...He's sorry?" It was worth a try.

"That's merely what he _says_!" Alvin thundered. "Do you see this?" he asked as he placed his hook right between Carly's eyes, centimeters away. "Do you have any idea of the _suffering _he put me through?"

Carly started to nod, thought it would most likely get her throat slit, and shook her head vigorously.

"Look, I'm glad you have an archenemy, but _why are you here? _And _how are you still alive?"_ queried Mrs. Benson loudly.

Alvin rose. "Both very good questions. I believe I shall start with the tale of how I became a Friend of Rome."

The soldiers gathered around with baited breath as Alvin began. "After my former brother removed my most useful appendage, I severed my ties with him and the accursed people of Berk before losing so much blood that I fell into a deep sleep. They must have taken me for dead, for when I awoke I found myself staring at the wood cover of a coffin and found my shield by my side. The wound had stopped bleeding, but my arm was very pale and I was unable to move it. The coffin was swaying back and forth, so I knew I was still at sea. I am not sure how long I was trapped after coming to - minutes, hours, it could have been _days_ - but before long, the swaying suddenly stopped. I heard voices calling out in a foreign tongue, then the coffin was being ripped open, strong arms were lifting me up! My vision blurred, and I fell asleep once more.

"The next time, however, I awoke to find myself in a grand room, on a soft bed, my wound treated and dressed. A man was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, watching me. I knew him to be a Roman, but I was unafraid. I had slain many Romans in my time...I thought them weak. This man came to my bedside and began to speak. To my surprsie, he could talk in Norse! He said, 'I am Honoratus, General of Rome, and you are in my villa. I have saved your life.'

"As the months passed, Honoratus became my greatest friend, and I part of his household. He was the one who taught me Latin, and fitted me with my hook. But most of all, he taught me the truth about the noble Roman people. I had always thought them to be simple savages who happened to have a large empire. No, in reality, they are wise, kind, civilized. It is the _Vikings_ who are the savages! When I was well enough, I went on several missions with Honoratus and the Roman army. I traveled to Gaul, Greece, even the sands of Egypt. Everywhere, I performed great feats; charging into battle, shrieking a mighty war cry, breaking through the defenses of our foes. That was one thing Vikings did right. I was mutilated further throughout the years, but it wasn't like losing my hand - now I was fighting _for_ something. After many years of my deeds, I was brought before the Emperor. He told me that the stories of my adventures had reached his noble ears, and that he wished to reward me. The Emperor then bestowed me with a most wonderful gift...he declared me to be a Friend of Rome, a treasured citizen of its empire, and he gave me a new Roman name: Amatus, 'beloved.' "

The soliders smiled and nodded proudly. "I still go by Alvin when on missions, however. Helps bring out the warrior in me."

Mrs. Benson was unimpressed. "So why are you here again?"

"Can you not guess?" Alvin asked incredulously. "Fine..."

He leaned down to their level once more. "Before that battle against Stoick, I could have had a fine life. I could have been Chief, I could have been the greatest dragon-slayer in history, I could have had my greatest love for my wife. But _no,_ my former brother glided in and snatched it _all._ But in the end, I suppose it all worked out for the better - I found my true home. But will I be happy with this fate? Or should I ask for something greater...say, gliding back in and snatching it all _back_?" He moved closer. "Because that sounds very fine to me."

Holy guacamole, this guy was _out of his mind._

"Go back, tell them all what you have heard," Alvin snarled. "And tell them Alvin the Invincible has returned."

He nodded to the seated Romans. Carly suddenly heard a loud banging noise, and a sharp pain on the back of her head. Her vision blurred, she saw stars for a moment, and everything went black as she collapsed to the ground.

* * *

**Next chapter: Welcome to Swordfighting 101, where instructors Astrid and Ruffnut know how to put the 'crash' in 'crash course.'**

**I'm in a production of 'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,' and those who do not review shall receive virtual burnt applesauce cake!**

**~A. Kingsleigh**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Salut!**_** That's 'hi' in French, for those who don't know. I'd have gotten this up sooner, but writers' block on other stories mixed with play performances and two auditions, with the common cold on top of it all...let's just say I've had a lot on my plate. In a way, this next chapter is dedicated to **_**Countess of Western March**_**, who once told me that she'd like to see more of Astrid in the story. This chapter wasn't in my original concept, but when you're making it up as you go along, then things like this tend to crop up. So, I found a way to have more Astrid AND further the main plot of the story! WIN-WIN!**

**DISCLAIMER: Neither iCarly nor HTTYD belongs to me.

* * *

**

_"...Is she gonna be okay?"_

_"Yeah, she waking up."_

Carly opened her eyes hesitantly and looked around. She was lying in a bed - in Astrid's house, she realized. In a corner stood Hiccup, Astrid, Sam and Freddie, talking in hushed voices and occasionally sneaking a peek back at her. Letting her eyes travel upward, she saw Crystal sitting on the headboard, regarding her anxiously. On seeing that her friend was awake, Crystal jumped energetically onto Carly's stomach and began to lick her face.

"ACK! Stop it, stop it, stop it!" yelled Carly as she sat up and lifted the dragon off her body. "Your BFF doesn't like early morning tongue-baths, you crazy lizard."

"One, it's midday, and two, that 'crazy lizard' probably saved your life," Astrid remarked.

"Carls, we told ya to _find_ Freddie's mom, not _join_ her!" Sam added, concealing a smile.

"...What'd I do?"

"Oh, just vanish for several hours and knock yourself unconscious," Hiccup responded. "We'd never have found you if Crystal hadn't shown the search party where to go."

"Mom was out cold, too, but she's not up yet," added Freddie. "Must've been pretty nasty out there...what the heck happened to you two, anyway?"

Carly leaned back, trying to remember the events of the previous night - to her surprise, she came up with _nothing_.

"I...I don't...remember..."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Well, whatever it was, it wouldn't have happened if you'd known how to use that sword, which you _lost_, by the way."

"Look, I didn't mean - "

"How's your head?" she interrupted. "Can you walk?"

Carly got up from the bed. "Yeah, _why?_" she asked defiantly.

"The next time you get handed a sword - and it'll be _soon,_ if those Romans are still out there - you'll need to know how to use it. Your brother said Ruff and I could train you."

Carly's knees almost buckled as she tried to remain standing and not look traumatized. Apparently she was failing, because Astrid gave her a subtly mischievous smile. "Come to the arena in three hours." And with that, she turned on her heel and walked out, leaving her friends with their mouths hanging open.

After a minute of shocked silence, Hiccup said "Oh, _gods._"

* * *

It was official; Carly was convinced that, for some unknown reason, Astrid Hofferson was out to get her.

"She's gonna flay me, Ruff, I just know it," she whispered as she watched Astrid pick out swords to use in the lesson.

"You want some advice?"

"Please."

"Don't spaz out, don't use big words, don't be girly."

"_Carly!_ Get over here!" Astrid called.

Ruffnut gently smacked Carly's shoulder as her friend truged reluctantly into the center of the arena. "Let's go."

Astrid was clearly in her element, Carly noted. "Out here, everyone knows swordfighting. It's a basic survival skill," she lectured as she was casually looking through a rack of the most disturbing weapons the Seattle girl had ever laid eyes on.

Nodding to herself, Astrid pulled a sword from the rack. Carly gaped - it was at least three feet long, razor-sharp and had a wooden handle which looked somewhat flimsy. "This'll do," her instructor said as she handed the thing to Carly. It dropped to the ground immediately.

"Oh, I guess we'll have to find something lighter - "

_"Lift it."_

Remembering the part about not being girly, Carly did as she was told. Easier said than done.

"You can hold it? Well, it's _useless_ if you can't fight with it," Astrid dictated, she and Ruffnut having picked out swords. "We're going to show you a few basic moves. Watch closely."

Without warning, she abruptly swung her sword towards Ruffnut's head, Ruff barely managing to block the attack.

And with that, the two Vikings girls threw themselves into an elaborate sword battle, their blades flying so fast they almost blurred. Carly could only process one thought: _I am so deceased.

* * *

_

"Come on, _strike_ already!"

"I'm just trying to get it on the target..."

"CARLY!"

"Striking, striking!"

Carly frenetically smacked the cloth training dummy with the side of her sword. The thing swung around on its stand and knocked her in the head with its blade-simulating stick.

* * *

"Hit the shields, hit the shields."

"It would be easier if you two weren't _running_ with them!"

"Yeah, trying telling that to actual enemies."

Unfortunately, swinging the sword while also keeping a grip on it was above Carly's skill level.

* * *

"All right, let's try some footwork. Right, left, forward, back, swing. Repeat without maiming any innocent bystanders, please?"

"Right...left...forward...I think I can - "

Carly tripped over a shield left lying on the ground and fell flat on her face.

* * *

"Make your move! An enemy is _not_ going to wait!"

"Just one more second, Ruff..."

Carly attempted to swing her sword and accidentally flung it across the arena, almost taking out a passing Nadder. The next hour was spent extinguishing the flames.

* * *

"_Thor,_ Carly, you're worse at Viking stuff than Hiccup _ever_ was," Ruffnut exclaimed as she stomped on a stubborn patch of fire. "Impressed with Astrid, though...I'd have given up by now."

Carly sniffed irritably. "Well, I got news for Astrid - I'm _not_ a swordfighter!"

"Because you've barely tried."

Carly whirled to see Astrid staring at her coldly, sword in hand. "One more round. You're fighting me this time."

Preparing herself for more humiliation, Carly grudgingly lifted her sword once more. "Let's get this over with."

Astrid's eyes narrowed in anger and concentration. Then, abruptly, she let out a bloodcurdling yell and charged towards Carly, sword raised.

Carly shrieked and waved her sword around in terror. Her instructor had finally snapped, it seemed. To her shock, one of her blind flails _actually clanged against Astrid's sword._ This appeared to infuriate Astrid, who screeched again and swung once more. Fueled by pure fear, Carly deflected it once more, stepping backwards as she did so. Ruffnut stepped back as Astrid met her head on. This could take awhile.

To Carly, it seemed as though Astrid got crazier and crazier the longer they fought. But it also seemed like the more scared she herself got, her swings became stronger and her blocks got easier. She truly believed she was fighting for her life.

Astrid presumably spotted an opening in Carly's defense, for she raised her sword and screamed again, determined to end this. Trembling as she was backed into a wall, Carly made one last desperate move. She gripped the sword...and brought the flat side of it against Astrid's head like a baseball bat.

Shocked and probably developing head trauma, Astrid dropped her sword and staggered back several steps before plopping onto the ground.

Ruffnut stared in horror at Carly, who was sure that Astrid was going to gut her like a fish once her head stopped spinning.

Astrid carefully stood up, stared at Carly - and _nodded. With approval. _ "Fear always boosts adrenaline. It's a last resort, though," she added. "Where'd you learn that smacking thing, anyway?"

"...Oh, just something we use in Seattle."

"Well, you better teach it to_ me!_" Ruffnut interjected.

* * *

"Heard you gave Astrid quite a fight today," Hiccup said as the group relaxed in the Meade Hall that evening.

"I thought she'd really snapped!" Carly protested.

"Yeah, she can get pretty competitive. Why she took it out on _you,_ I don't know.

Just then, Carly spotted Astrid across the room, staring at the two of them, and not in a nice way.

_I think I might, though._

"Well, I think Astrid's a _really_ good Viking, and a _REALLY_ good teacher," Carly said loudly, hoping Astrid was paying attention. "I also think you're _VERY LUCKY _to have her, Hiccup, and I think you should _TELL_ her that. As soon as _POSSIBLE._"

Realizing what she was getting at, Hiccup raised his eyebrows as if to say, _She's jealous?_

In response, Carly raised her eyebrows as if to say, _And trying to eliminate the competition! Now get over there!_

"Hey, Astrid! Astrid, hi! Hi, Astrid!" Hiccup called, getting up quickly. "Do you think we could maybe talk, outside, alone..."

Immediately, Astrid's whole demeanor seemed to change. She seemed to perk up and get a little brighter as she took Hiccup's hand and practically dragged him out of the hall, flashing a triumphant smile to Carly as she passed.

"Not bad," said Ruffnut as Carly returned the smile. "Now she most likely _won't_ kill you tomorrow."

_"Tomorrow?"_

"Yeah, you got more lessons. That whacking thing isn't gonna work all the time, ya know."

Carly groaned as she sunk onto the table. _Help. Me.

* * *

_

**Next chapter: Carly better brush up on those sword skills soon, because things are about to go to Helheim in a handbasket.**

**Heh, heh, those little vignettes were fun to write. Please let me know what you thought!**

**~A. Kingsleigh**


	10. Chapter 10

**There is a storytelling strategy which I believe is attributed to George Lucas - in the first part of your story, introduce your characters. In the second part, toss them into the Pit of Despair. Finally, in the third part, rescue them from said Pit. Okay, he was actually talking about the Star Wars trilogy, but it applies to regular stories pretty well, don't you think? Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that I've introduced most of the characters...now it's time to get tossing. Enjoy.**

**DISCLAIMER: Neither iCarly nor HTTYD belongs to me.

* * *

**

It was happening again.

_This time, though, Carly wasn't flying. She was standing in the middle of Berk, watching her friends being attacked by a massive army of Romans. Dragons were being wounded, houses were going up in flames, and above it all, she could hear a long, agonized scream, obviously a death rattle._

_Hiccup._

_"Witness what might be the future, Carly Shay," the voice whispered. "Unless you act soon, this horror shall come to pass...and it is closer than you think."_

_A strong hand grabbed Carly's shoulder and roughly turned her around. Towering above her was a tall man, hideous and frightening, his right hand a sharp hook, an evil grin on his face. She'd seen him before, she just couldn't remember where. That didn't matter, though, 'cuz he was about to run her through with his sword...wait, WHAT?_

Carly jolted awake in a cold sweat, shivering with fear, suppressing a screech of terror. Okay, this just wasn't _fair._ She didn't know why this ghost was targeting her, but it had something against the concept of sleep.

She lay back down, sighing softly, before getting out of her bed and starting to dress. _It'll just start all over again if I try to go back to sleep._ Stepping quietly out of the Hofferson house, Carly headed for the calmest place she could think of - the docks.

A few minutes later, she was sitting on a tall wooden scaffolding, letting her legs dangle hundreds of feet above the water. Hiccup had told her that a year before, when he'd first met Toothless, he had stood in this very spot after his best friend had been captured, watching his father load the dragon onto a ship and sail off with him, along with Berk's entire fleet, to what had almost been their doom. She could imagine standing there as the ships left, that horrible sense of helplessness hanging in the air...

She was drawn out of her thoughts by the sight of a tiny glimmer on the shore, barely visible. _Not even a Viking would be up this time of night,_ she thought as she stood to get a better look. Through the darkness, Carly could see the dim figures of two thin men, one with a torch of some kind, standing near a small boat floating in the water. They seemed to be arguing. _About what?_ She crept down the slope, inching toward them as they continued to quarrel, until she was on the beach, within earshot of the two. Yep, they were arguing...but not in English. _Why the __**heck**__ does that language sound so familiar?_ Then it hit her. _Latin._

Suddenly, the figures stopped, looking behind them. A third figure was lumbering toward the shore. He was coming from the direction of the village, but as he got closer, Carly noted that he sure didn't look like he was coming _from_ the village. His hair and beard were tangled and dirty, his clothes were worn, his face was covered in cuts and scars..._like he's been in the woods or something._

"Are the boats prepared?" the new figure snapped at the first two. _I've heard that voice before._

"_**Etiam.**_ We shall seize the boy as soon as the attack begins."

"Do _not_ harm him."

The torchlight flickered over the face of the third man, and Carly's heart stopped.

It was _him._

All her memories of that night in the woods came rushing back like a tidal wave. _Captured...Romans...Alvin...revenge...HERE!_

She stumbled backwards, accidentally letting a scream escape her lips.

The three men whirled around, spying their eavesdropper. They stared at each other, then...

_**"Eius interficiam!"**_ Alvin yelled.

Carly had no idea what that actually meant, but to her freaked out teenage girl brain, it said: _Scream and run._ And she did.

* * *

"...No...no, Mom, _please_...wait, not up the nose, _not up the nose_..."

Freddie was awoken by a bloodcurdling scream which drifted throughout the village like a siren. _Is that...Carly?_ Getting out of bed, he rushed down the stairs and flung open the door of Hiccup's house, trying to see the source of the sound.

"_Odin,_ what is that?" Stoick was coming downstairs, followed by Hiccup and Spencer. "I didn't touch it, I swear," the latter droned, not quite up.

"Screaming...it sounded like Carly."

At the mention of his little sister's name, Spencer tuned in. "What's she doing out?"

Suddenly, the scream broke through the stillness once more, and as lights were turned on in houses, a small figure could be seen coasting through the town center. It _was_ Carly, and she was being followed by...two thin guys and one really big guy. The members of the trio were all yelling the same thing; _**"Incipe petat! Crimen!"**_

"What the...?" Hiccup muttered as the group rushed outside to get a better view.

"Sounds like some kind of order - " Freddie turned around to watch the figures as they headed for the village outskirts, and saw...it looked like a huge black mass coming from the woods, which then split up into more black masses, advancing silently down the slopes toward the half-awake Berk. There must have been a hundred of them..._Romans._

"Aw, _snap_."

More Vikings began to emerge from their houses, gasping at the terrible sight.

"Invaders!"

"Protect the dragons!"

_"THEY'RE GONNA SHRED ME!"_ Carly shrieked as she turned around and headed back through the town, bumping into Sam.

_**"Venite ad me socios meos!"**_ called out the tall figure, standing proudly in the town center. _**"Sit coortum proelium!"**_

He was cut short by a disgruntled Nightmare, who spat a fireball at the intruder. It missed, but the flames managed to illuminate the man's face.

Stoick's blood ran cold - he knew what was going on. All he wanted was to reach out to his old friend, to apologize for what happened that day...but the look on Alvin's face told him it was already too late. So, as chief, he did what he had to do.

_"KILL HIM! KILL THEM ALL!"_

_**"Tolle villa! Carpe Noctem puer et furor percutiat dux! Nam gloria Romae!"**_

Things went downhill from there.

* * *

The Vikings of Berk were fond of surprise attacks. Unless, of course, they were on the receiving end of said attack - which they were. The Romans had the advantage of numbers _and_ being awake, and they went after the Vikings with all the force they had. Stoick commanded the kids to head for the training arena and lock themselves in before grabbing his trusty hammer and ducking into the fray. Terrified, Carly, Hiccup and Freddie quickly rounded up their friends and dragons, and all dashed for the outskirts of Berk.

"Being chased, _being chased_, _BEING CHASED!_" Gibby shouted as he spotted a band of Romans coming after them.

Toothless launched a blast at the mauraders, but that only managed to drive their number down from twelve to ten.

"We have to try and lose 'em!" Hiccup yelled. "This way!"

The gang followed their leader around a corner...and found themselves surrounded.

"Oops."

The circle of Romans closed tightly around the terrified kids. Their weapons were already bloody - to them, this group was just another batch of lives to take...

_"LOOK AT MEEEEEE! _I've got a _Boneknapper!_ See the pretty Boneknapper - "

"Spencer, don't _attract_ the Feather People!"

Everyone turned to look up the path. At the top of a hill stood Roger, with Mrs. Benson sitting worriedly upon his back, and Spencer, swiveling his hips mockingly.

_**"Carpe ridiculus et os draconis!"**_thundered one Roman, and the whole group tore off after their new prey.

"Uh..thanks, Spencer!" Gibby dared to shout as the trio ran for their lives toward the docks.

Before he disappeared, Spencer had time to yell, "NO PROBLEM...wait...PROBLEM!"

* * *

"Nobody get in, nobody gets out. Got it?" Sam said as she locked the door of the training arena.

Everyone nodded solemnly except Snotlout, who just slumped onto the stone floor. "Whatever, I wanna go back to bed..."

"No way," Hiccup interjected. "I don't know about the rest of you, but they're _not_ getting in here." Then he quietly added, "I hope Dad's okay."

"Yes, I hope so, too...it would be a pity if someone other than me took his life."

The gang turned around in terror as an intruder stepped out from the shadows, grinning maliciously - the Roman leader.

"H-HOW did you get _in here?_" Freddie stammered.

"Oh, I know my way around." The man strolled toward them, illuminated by the moonlight, and Fishlegs gasped.

"You're Alvin the Treacherous!" he blurted.

There was a moment of frightening silence - then Alvin smirked and shook his head, as if Fishlegs didn't know what he was talking about. "Alvin I am - most of the time - but _treacherous_ I am not. I simply come to take back what was stolen from me."

"What do you mean?" Hiccup retorted bravely. "No one here would accept you as chief...and my mom's dead!"

Alvin's eyes widened in disbelief for a moment, but he quickly regained control of himself. "So I have heard...what, then, am I here for? Why don't you ask _her_?"

And he pointed his hook at Carly.

_"WHAT?"_ the teens all exclaimed.

Alvin smiled at the trouble he was now causing. "I suspected she hadn't told you. A few nights ago," he began, putting his arm around the horrified Carly, "I intercepted Miss Shay. Took her back to my camp, told her my life story, what my plans were. And did she tell you? No, wait, I already know the answer to that."

"...He's _lying!_" Carly shrieked desperately. "I was telling the truth when I said I couldn't remember! He _knocked me out! I had amnesia or something!_"

"Oh, _really,_ children, are you going to believe _her_?" Alvin said. "I mean, look at all the damage she's caused."

Tears were sliding down Carly's face as she shook her head vehemently. But through her misty eyes, she could see them staring at her, even Sam and Freddie, expressions of disbelief plastered on their faces.

"...Carly..." she heard Freddie say. It was like she was a complete stranger to him...to all of them.

"_However,_ I could be persuaded to spare the life of your father, Dragon Whisperer," Alvin chirped, "if you give yourself up." Seeing the boy's expression of indecisiveness, he added, "Oh, and just to help you with this difficult choice..."

He whistled into the darkness, from which a group of unmistakable roars emitted.

"...The dragons!" cried Astrid in horror.

Four Romans stumbled into the light, cursing loudly - dragging Toothless.

"Here we go, Hiccup, either you accompany me, or the Night Fury meets his end." Calmly, Alvin picked up an axe and practically glided to the struggling dragon. "It would break my heart to lodge this in his throat," he mused as he fondled the weapon, "but then again, I _do_ still dream of this moment."

He raised the axe and prepared to bring it down -

"NOOOOO!"

Alvin glanced at Hiccup, feigning curiosity.

"...I'll...I'll go with you...just...don't hurt him..._please,_" the boy choked out.

Carly wanted to say something - an apology, a threat, _anything_ - but the words were stuck in her throat. _I did this._

With a dramatic sigh, Alvin put down the axe. "As you wish..._**rapere omnes**_**."**

A horde of Romans descended upon them. Carly screamed as her arms were forced behind her, and a gag was tied around her mouth. Alvin meant to take them _all_. As she struggled, she briefly saw Hiccup watching her. In his eyes was a mix of confusion, hopelessness...and was that a little bit of _hatred?_ She couldn't tell, because at that moment, he was knocked backwards by Alvin and tied up by two soldiers.

_He deserves to hate me..._it didn't matter whether she had meant to or not. She had condemned him and his people.

The cloth bag was forced over her head once more, and she was picked up. As the blood rushed to her brain, two words said themselves in her head, over and over again: _I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry.

* * *

_

**Next chapter: While I figure out how to get Carly and the gang out of this one...please enjoy a word from our Spencer.**

**Okay, I lied; I DO know what I'm gonna do. But one, what happens to Spencer becomes important later, and two, I think we all need a pick-me-up after this little festival of angst. I'm sorry if you want to kill me now, but there's only one way to find out what happens next; REVIEW!**

**Oh, and a funny tidbit - I finally got to see **_**The Sorcerer's Apprentice**_**, and I kept wondering why Dave never said "Oh, gods."**

**~A. Kingsleigh**


	11. Chapter 11

**I wish you a (belated) Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!**

**First, some tidings of comfort and joy - I will now be dedicating all my time to this story again! I hope you find this next chapter and the ones after it to be enjoyable. Speaking of this chapter, I hope you like it simply because of all the WORK I did for it. You see, this chapter **_**heavily**_** references "iStartAFanWar," which I have **_**never managed to see.**_** Several raids of YouTube, Wikiquote and the iCarly Wiki were in order to get the info I needed. What info, exactly? You'll see...oh, I guess what I got for Christmas? That's right, OPERATION: GET HTTYD was a smashing success! I found a really funny background quote I'd never noticed before - at least I think I did. I'll tell you 'bout it at the end of this chappie. See ya!**

**DISCLAIMER: Neither iCarly nor HTTYD belongs to me.

* * *

**

Ever since he had first seen _Galaxy Wars,_ Spencer Shay had wished on every shooting star he found that someday, he would go on a fantastic adventure and finally be seen as a great hero and savior...just like Nug-Nug.

Traveling back in time and getting chased by Romans was **not** what he meant.

"Okay!" he panted to himself as he, Roger and Mrs. Benson tore down the hill towards Berk, leading the group of Romans away from the kids. "You're being chased by bloodthirsty marauders with sharp weapons that they _will_ use. _Where do you hide?_"

His eyes quickly scanned their surroundings. No, nothing...wait! He spied a large wooden dragon's head statue close to the beach. Stoick had told him that these statues looked ordinary, but they were actually _hollow,_ used for storage in case of emergencies. _Thank you, social skills._

Taking a deep breath, Spencer hurled himself towards the statue, Roger right behind him. Mrs. Benson sat atop the Boneknapper's back, screeching in terror. In a short time, they reached the statue, and Spencer hurriedly jerked open the small door on its back. _Empty!_

"Roger, go hide! We'll be okay!" Spencer told his dragon as Mrs. Benson slid to the ground in a stupor. Roger huffed in agreement before spreading his wings and taking off. Grabbing Mrs. Benson, Spencer shoved her inside the statue and then crawled in after her, shutting the door just as the Romans came charging down the path.

_**"Quis est Spencer dicitur?**__ Where is the man called Spencer?"_ one of them snapped angrily. _**"Phaesellus statim!"**_

Spencer peeked cautiously through a tiny hole in the statue, trying not to freak as the Romans stomped around him, overturning everything that might be hiding a slight man of 29 years. _Breathe in, breathe out..._

It might have worked, if Mrs. Benson hadn't chosen that moment to come out of her stupor. "Spencer! I forgot Fredward's ointment!" she squeaked loudly. "He'll be getting a rash soon! Oh, I hope it doesn't become noticeable..."

Spencer could _feel_ five dozen pairs of steely eyes turning on them. "Uh, Mrs. Benson, now is _really_ not a good time for - "

"Are you in there, _**Bibliotheca macer?**_" thundered the Roman who had ordered his search, lumbering to the statue.

"Uh...uh...No! **NO! **I am...**I am the spirit of...GIGANTICUS SEADRAGONUS MAXIMUS! RAWR! **Rawr...**DRAGON NOISES!** Dragon noises..."

For a brief moment, there was silence. Then...

_"...He is in the dragons' head! __**Tolle dracones caput!**__"_

Spencer did a mental facepalm as he heard the Romans circling the statue. He was faintly aware of Mrs. Benson screaming as he solemnly prepared himself for the door to be ripped open -

To his shock, the statue suddenly lurched sideways and began to _roll_. They were _pushing_ it. _**"Navis caput!"**_ the Roman leader commanded. _Whatever they're doing,_ thought Spencer as he banged his head, _they're not being gentle about it._

With a final jerk several minutes later, the statue finally came to a halt. Spencer and Mrs. Benson were thrown forward and slammed roughly against the hard wood. The last thing Spencer was aware of before he blacked out was that he felt like the statue was _floating_ in something...

* * *

...which was what he was aware of when he came to. Except now, he was tied to a mast. On a ship. In the middle of the ocean. With _hundreds_ of Romans watching him.

"AAAAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHH!"

One Roman stood and casually sauntered over to him. The man was tall, muscled, with sleek black hair, dressed in a stunning white tunic with gold trim. He got _way_ too close to Spencer for comfort, sizing him up calmly, then took a deep breath and yelled in his face. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" It was _baritone._

Spencer squeaked in fear. "I-I am so sorry. I g-got really freaked out just now and I did _not_ mean to insult in any way - "

The man simply rolled his eyes before untying Spencer.

"...Oh! You...going...thank you."

"Do _not_ become comfortable, one called Spencer," sneered his adversary. "You are a prisoner yet."

"Will you at least tell me where you put the screaming lady? Because - "

A familiar squawk reached his ears. _Is that...?_

He turned. Yep - a blue Terrible Terror, squirming in the hold of her captors and shrieking her head off.

"What do you see?" The Roman looked at the soldiers holding Crystal. "Ah, yes. Kill the dragon!"

"Woah, woah, NO, _DON'T DO THAT!_" Spencer tried to rush toward his little sister's dragon, but was held back by the Roman leader. "You are powerless here, one called Spencer - "

"I AM NOT THE ONE CALLED SPENCER!"

Another mental facepalm.

There was a shocked silence, then the Roman carefully let Spencer go. "Then** what** are you called?" he questioned, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Spencer's mind was racing like a proton cruiser. _What do I say, what do I say? Tell them I'm a god? No, they'd never buy that. Maybe an explorer, or just a traveling artist..._

_...or a Warlord. Of __**course.**_

Spencer smirked as he drew himself up proudly. "I go by Spencer - **sometimes.** But my true name...is _Aruthor!_"

"Aruthor."

"Yes! Aruthor, Supreme Warrior of the Hoobsher Fyords! The greatest warrior in my realm!"

The Roman raised his eyebrow, unimpressed. "You speak falsehoods, scrawny one."

This wasn't going well...time to get serious. Spencer took a deep breath and tried to imagine Aspartamay staring him down instead of this hunk - ah, much better. He smiled and stepped forward. "Your words have no bite, for they are spoken by a _gutless thief,_ sprung from a lineage of _cowards_ and _hog farmers!_"

The Romans all roared in fury at this comeback, and several drew their swords, but their leader stopped them. _**"Utinam me occidere...**_how DARE you! My father is a General of Rome, the savior of Amatus the Invincible!"

_Oops._

The sound of rumbling thunder jerked him out of his terrified stupor. A storm was brewing a few miles away from the ship, close enough to see clearly.

"What is it, Aruthor?" the Roman said mockingly. "Do you plan to tell us you control the storms?"

"No...because I used to, but your god guy, Jupiter, he took that job away from me. I_scared him too much!_ Yeah, that's also why you've never heard of the Hoobsher Fyords."

"Nothing can scare Jupiter!" the Roman retorted, trying to sound haughty. Spencer, however could hear the surprise in his voice.

"Nothing except the Doomsday Chant of the Hoobsher Fyords!"

At that moment, lightning struck in the distance.

"HAH! See? Jupiter didn't like that." Putting himself in Aruthor Mode, Spencer began to snap his fingers ominously. The Roman's eyes widened. "If you really can scare Jupiter, then I shall admit that - "

_"You look like you're hungry, so taste the blade of ARUTHOR!"_ Spencer sang as he grabbed a sword right out from the sheath of a Roman who had snuck up behind him. Thunder rumbled once more, and more clouds began to build up over the ship. _Hooray for weather!_ The Romans were getting really freaked out now. _"You will beg for mer-cy, when I own you in the FACE!"_ More lightning!

_"I'll thrust my sword through your lily-white gullet, you look like a troll with a chambermaid's mullet! You em-an-ate a stench so foul that when you're near it makes me HOWL!"_ Now Spencer began to dance, swinging the sword above his head. The Roman leader could see that his troops were getting hysterical. "Aruthor, stop! I beg of you!"

"NEVER! _With my sword, my wand and chain, I'll send you back from whence you came! Thine heart is cowardly and black, from where I'm sending you, you're never coming back! I'll kick thee in thy kidney, dance upon thine entrails, I'll poke thee in thine eyeballs, while your mother watches! YEASTY LITTLE MOLDWARP! My gear is fully epic, and yours is epic FAIL!"_

The storm had been growing throughout Spencer's song and dance, with thunder and lightning crashing at the end of every line. The Romans were crying and begging him to stop, and even their leader was quivering. Spencer took a huge breath and belted out the last line; _"I am the king, you will be stopped...they call me ARUTHOR!"_

Lightning filled the sky, thunder crashed with a deafening roar, and it began to rain.

The Roman soldier let out a very un-manly scream and sank to his knees, head in his hands. "Oh Mighty Aruthor, please accept my forgiveness! Do not release your wrath on me and my crew! I was merely sent by my father on this mission! I have no interest in being a general, I have no interest in harming the young Dragon Whisperer, I even have no interest in slaying that Terrible Terror - "

"Calm _down,_ dude. I, Aruthor, shall spare your life, and that of your crew...if you give me command of this ship."

"Truly, it is done! All yours...just _don't sing the Hoobsher Fyords song again!_"

"I promise. First, release that Terror. Second, what's your name?"

"Eligius, son of Honoratus, General of Rome...but I have no wish to be like him."

"I know how that feels. Nice to meet ya, Eligius," Spencer replied as he pulled the young man back up from the deck. "Anyway, I was gonna ask you where you put the screaming lady that you found with me."

"She is below-decks, unharmed."

"Bring her up later. _All right, guys!_" Spencer yelled. "As your new captain, I got an assignment for ya; who knows where that Alvin guy is headed?"

"Amatus? I believe he plans to meet the Emperor at Sinistra for the Saturnalia celebration before continuing to Rome."

"I have no idea what any of that means...but tell them to go there. That nub's trying to get the Dragon Whisperer and my little sister, and I'm going to stop him."

"But, Aruthor - "

_"You will beg for mer-cy..."_

"Yes, yes, right away! _**Verte ratem! Fort itur ad Sinistra!**_"

_Well, that went well.

* * *

_

**Next chapter: What's a good mystery without a shocking reaveal?**

***slowly recovers from laughing fit* O-**_**kay,**_** that was...crazed. I know it was really dumb, but TRUST ME, this becomes IMPORTANT. I SWEAR. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed - oh, wait, the background line! At the end of the movie when Astrid kisses Hiccup, there's a bunch of murmuring from the other Vikings, and at the VERY end of it, muffled by Hiccup's line, I swear I heard something that sounded eerily like 'wedding bells.' Probably just my brain making stuff up, but you never know...ah, insanity. You know you've got it when your mind inserts lines into your favorite movie that point towards your favorite pairing.**

**~A. Kingsleigh**


	12. Chapter 12

**Greetings to all my readers! I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and the pure, unbridled silliness contained within it. I'd looked forward to writing that chapter ever since I first started this story. And now, as a reward, I humbly present to you the next chapter. It contains a **_**very**_** shocking answer to all your questions, and the way to find out is to **_**read it, darn ya, read it!**_** Of course, you can't read it until I write it. So here I go!**

**DISCLAIMER: Neither iCarly nor HTTYD belongs to me.

* * *

**

"This is like Nora all over again."

"I was wondering why you were gnawing on that bone."

"Not like there's gonna be anything _else_ to eat," Sam snapped at Freddie as she continued to aggressively grind the small chicken bone in her teeth. "Besides, the marrow tastes better than the slop here."

_Here,_ in this case, was the cargo hold of Alvin's ship. The teenagers had been dropped into the dark, slimy cavern, bound with some rusty chains and abandoned with the order that 'you would be wise to stay quiet.' Now, several hours later, the vessel was churning quickly through the sea, making the members of the group ready to violently throttle each other for a number of reasons.

"Ohhh...Ruff...give," Tuffnut moaned as he tried to lunge at his sister's helmet. His face was turning green again and he'd already ruined his own.

"He has to throw up_ again_?" Astrid remarked coldly.

"You shouldn't be surprised, really. The average Roman ship has 14 Speed, and judging from the size of this hold, I'd say we're in a war vessel, which bumps it to at least 16, and the higher the speed, the higher the Toss Factor - "

"Yeah, _we don't care_!" Snotlout fumed.

"Why don't ya send that stuff down your shirt?" Ruffnut sniffed at her brother, who was getting desperate.

"What are we all talking about?" Gibby piped up.

"Okay, just wait a minute, Lout - "

_"STOP IT!"_

The sudden outburst had come from Hiccup, who had quietly tucked himself into a dark corner. "Just...stop it," he breathed as he retreated back into his own thoughts.

Respectfully, the others quieted down. _He's suffering more than all of us,_ Astrid thought._ We're screaming at each other about throwing up, and his whole life's just been ruined. Speaking of which...where has __**she**__ crawled off to?_

Astrid was thinking of Carly, who had crawled off to discover a whole new level of emotional pain. She had distanced herself from the others, her chin resting on her knees, listening to her friends argue.

If they were still her friends.

_How did this happen,_ she thought miserably. They hadn't believed her excuses...and why would they? Alvin's lie _did_ make sense - in a way, she was guilty of everything he had accused her of. True, she didn't remember the encounter, but that very fact should have given her reason to believe _something_ bad had happened. Something she should have warned them about. But _no,_ she had been her girly, scared self, deciding not to say a thing because there was always the chance that she was wrong..._which I am._

She burrowed deeper into her self-deprecating thoughts. _This is the worst thing I've done to anyone. He doesn't deserve this - none of them do. I'm such a horrible person, I'm prissy and weak and I always manage to mess things up...I can't even get a stupid history paper done, let alone __**protect someone's life!**__ If that's really why I'm here, then that voice made a__** big**__ mistake._

Carly closed her eyes, letting her words surround her as she drifted to sleep.

_And now here it comes,_ her subconscious said._ The mist and the flying, or maybe the scream and the burning village...whatever, let's just get this over with._

Taking a deep breath, she let her dream self's eyes open...and she woke up in the iCarly studio.

* * *

_...Is that __**it?**_

Cautiously getting up, she looked around. Spencer must've had the random urge to rearrange all the furniture. The studio was _completely_ empty. The shelves were bare, Freddie's cart was gone, even the car was missing.

"Sam! Freddie! You there?" she called. No answer. Was this some kind of prank? Because that would actually be nice. Sighing, she walked to the elevator. _Maybe they're downstairs _-

"Don't bother. That contraption leads nowhere in this world."

She knew that voice. That voice had been tormenting her for weeks.

Carly had spent plenty of time thinking about what the owner of the mysterious voice was like - and had decided it was some kind of Eldritch Abomination - so she was pleasantly surprised when she turned to see a tall woman in Viking garb standing at the window, observing her affectionately. Her long hair was somewhere between dark brown and rusty red, her eyes were a striking green, and a spray of freckles danced lightly across her nose. She had a certain warmth about her, yet she had a fearless gaze in her eyes that hinted of brutal battles and narrow escapes.

"You surprise me, Carly Shay," the woman said. "I did not think you would give up hope so easily."

Carly rolled her eyes. "You_ seriously still think_ I'm the one to run your little errand? I'll have you know, I've royally screwed things up back there! _They all hate me!_"

" 'Hate' is a very strong word. How do you know this?"

"Because...well...they just hate me, all right?"

"I thought you might say that...will you sit with me for a while, Carly Shay?" the woman asked as she gracefully seated herself on the wooden steps below the window. "There is much you need to know."

"About time," Carly mumbled as she reluctantly trudged to the woman and sat beside her.

Her visitor smiled sympathetically. "I knew those children once. They do not hate you - they are scared and confused...and Vikings."

"You knew them? Whaddaya mean?"

"When I still lived, my home was in Berk. I was respected, I had a family. One night, the dragons raided. I killed my fair share of the creatures before it was over...but I failed to notice one Nadder."

"...Fishlegs says Nadders have the hottest fire."

"I found that out the hard way."

Carly winced. What an awful way to go. "So after you...ya know...what happened?"

"I did not wish to ascend to Valhalla...my family needed me. So I bargained with Odin, and he allowed my spirit to remain on this earth, able to watch the world, but not affect it. I witnessed the end of the Viking-Dragon War, the growth of my tiny village. I witnessed the Roman Horde that destroyed it, and the _heartless murder _of the young man who had saved it from the Dragon Queen."

"Hiccup."

"Yes - Hiccup. When I saw this tragedy, I knew that there _must_ be some way to prevent it, to save him. With my powers, I traveled far into the future, searching for a hero who had the strength to defy history and protect my people...I found you, Carly Shay."

"Uh-huh, a girly teenage web comedian. Great pick."

"You underestimate yourself. I have watched you, and I know you are brave and clever. You are a loyal friend, and that trait has served you well."

"...I'm brave?"

"You have outwitted your enemies many times, you have traveled to a faraway country - Japan, I believe it was called - and faced many dangers there, you were even captured and imprisoned in a basement...and it was _your_ idea to call for help."

"Every fourth word."

The woman smiled and nodded. "You are not alone, either. You have your brother, and Samantha and Fredward. They'd do anything to help you, and you know that." Seeing that Carly wasn't convinced, she added, "I was not searching for the perfect hero, Carly Shay."

"Then who _were_ you looking for?"

"A hero with a heart...someone who could forge a friendship with my son."

The truth hit Carly like a ton of bricks. Hiccup's strange behavior at the dock suddenly made sense as she croaked, "You're..."

"Valhallarama Haddock," Hiccup's mother finished.

"...I was just gonna say 'his mom,' but...yeah."

For several minutes, they just sat there, Carly deep in thought over her new discovery, and Valhallarama watching her patiently. Finally, Carly said, "It really is a mess. We've been captured by Alvin - do you remember him? He's still mad at Stoick."

"I can believe that."

"He's all buddy-buddy with these Roman dudes, and he's got this crazy plan to take over Berk and...and he told them I was in on it. Old nub made it sound really convincing."

"And now they 'hate' you."

For the first time, Carly considered what she had actually done to defend herself. "All I really did was scream and cry."

"You lacked the proper confidence in yourself."

"Do you...think I'd be going overboard if I tried again?"

Valhallarama chuckled. "Judging from your humorous broadcasts, you have attempted things _far_ more perilous."

"You..._watch iCarly?_"

"How else was I to monitor you?"

"That explains why you wanted _all_ of us."

"I did not count on Freddie's mother."

"Neither did we!" Carly laughed. Then her smile faded as Mrs. Benson reminded her of...

"Your brother is enjoying himself, actually. I've made sure of that."

"One, how did you know I was worried about Spencer, and two, _how is he enjoying himself?_"

"I am sure he shall tell you all about when you reunite," Hiccup's mother answered.

Carly paused, choosing her words carefully. "...I'm assuming I can't tell anyone about this."

Valhallarama shook her head solemnly. "But I shall be with you."

"Oh, _why_ can't this be easier?"

"You remind me of my son - he once said that, but he learned to have strength."

Valhallarama took Carly's hands in her own. "And that is what I need you to do, Carly Shay," she continued seriously. "I need you to have the strength to win back the trust of your friends and unite them against your _true_ enemies. They will be there to help, but only _you_ can defeat Alvin. They need you, even if they won't admit it..._they all need you_."

"I can't promise you that I'll win, Mrs. Haddock," Carly admitted as they rose, "but I _can_ promise you that I'll try."

"And so you _shall_ accomplish your quest."

Valhallarama stepped away from Carly as the room slowly faded away. Carly closed her eyes, falling slowly though quiet darkness.

* * *

Then, with a start, she awoke. Back in the cargo hold. Dazed, she sat up, remembering her dream._ 'Have strength?' There's no way...would it?_

The sound of Tuffnut trying not to puke brought her back to reality. _Only one way to find out,_ she thought as she took off her helmet. Advancing from her corner, she spotted Tuffnut curled in a ball, his face looking like something out of _Wicked._ "Think ya might need this," she said warmly as she tossed the helmet in his direction.

Tuffnut looked shocked before carefully picking up the helmet. "Th...thanks," he managed before he started retching.

"AND she's alive after all!" Ruffnut said. "What have you been up to?"

"Thinking," Carly answered, sitting down inside the circle. "Thinking _a lot_, and I realized that I owe you all a _really big explanation_ - "

"And you think we really want to hear it," Astrid interrupted vehemently.

Carly's head snapped around. "Okay, _look_, I've pretty much stopped trying to figure out what _your_ problem is, but you're not the boss here, _there is no boss._ Unless you want us all to die horribly, we need to work as a team, we have to _trust_ each other. I trust you guys, and you _all_ have to trust me. And I've done a sucky job at that, I'll admit, but I want to try again." She stood up to her full height, making sure that she had everyone's attention. "Yes, Alvin _did_ take me to his camp - Mrs. Benson and I were dragged there. He told us his little sob-story, then said he was gonna take back what he'd lost. _Then,_ his two goons knocked us both out. Remember that bump you noticed? Let's see if _you_ can piece the rest of it together."

Everyone was staring at her in shock. Astrid's eyes were narrowed into evil blue slits that said, _destroy the dissenter._ Carly was resisting the urge to pass out. _Did I __**seriously**__ just say that?_

Nobody moved. Then Snotlout dared to break the silence - "She's got a point."

Although Astrid would never, _ever_ admit it, she was thinking the same thing. What had happened to this girl? A few hours before, she'd been having a screaming fit, and _now..._

The sound of rustling chains made them turn to see Hiccup carefully rising. He was cautious, Carly could see - but there was also a glimmer of hopeful joy. "Carly...I..."

Without warning, the ship suddenly grinded to a halt, throwing the teens to the floor. A hatch opened above them, letting in bright, blinding light as a gruff voice called down, "We have arrived!"

* * *

**Next chapter: Here on the island of Sinistra, a great celebration, Saturnalia, is about to begin...well, it's not so great for the gladiators.**

**That's right, **_**gladiators.**_** Expect some action in the next chapter! Man, a lot can happen in just a few days - guess who finally saw **_**iStartAFanWar**_**? Plus, my mom and I went to see **_**The King's Speech**_** today...my first R movie. Oh, and here's some INSANELY cool news I keep forgetting to tell you: I've been wondering why my Tangled oneshot, **_**Of Mathematicians and Lizards,**_** keeps getting so many hits, and I've figured out why - it's a recommended read on TvTropes! RECOGNITION, SWEET RECOGNITION! Well, it's currently 10:30 in the evening where I am, so I'll be signing off. Until next time!**

**~A. Kingsleigh**


	13. Chapter 13

**Is 13 an unlucky number? I don't really think so. I happen to adore the number 3 for a reason I've never figured out, and thus...I know what you're thinking: what is A. Kingsleigh chattering about NOW? Well, this is Chapter 13, and despite the fact that people see 13 as being unlucky, when this chapter is VERY lucky - at least I think so. I would have started this sooner, but school's back up, and every subject is in full swing. If you ask me, 13 isn't the number we should be scared of. **_**1984...**_**now THAT'S an unlucky number.**

**DISCLAIMER: Neither iCarly nor HTTYD belongs to me - this is starting to sound like the airplane safety spiel.

* * *

**

"We have arrived!"

So much for being ignored. The Roman who had opened the hatch of the cargo hold jumped into the underbelly of the ship, followed by nine others. Each grabbed one of the teens, who found themselves being hoisted up and out of their dark, quiet prison - and into a bright, noisy one. Staggering to their feet, they immediately felt speartips nudging their backs, pushing them forward to the edge of the ship, where sailors were tying the vessel to the thick wooden posts of a stone dock, bristling with activity. Beyond, the members of the group could see endless rows of elegant stone buildings, a network of tidy streets snaking among them, and the dim outlines of several wooden forts and towering bridges of stone stretching through the hills. No bones about it, this was a Roman city, and an important one at that.

"Keep together," Hiccup whispered urgently as they stepped onto land. They narrowly avoided swinging crates hanging precariously from tall cranes with intricate workings, carts being loaded with exotic treasures and goods, menacing soldiers glaring at them, fingers dancing on the hilts of their swords.

Now the speartips were digging into their backs, forcing them to move ever faster. It seemed like an eternity before they halted, standing behind one of the larger carts. The thing had high sides, a sort of canvas cover, large windows with bars - a cage on wheels. One man undid a sliding lock on the cart's back door, which fell open as a sort of gangplank.

_**"Loquere moriendo siluestres. Non resistere!"**_ one soldier barked as the others practically flung the kids forward, making them land in the cart with a dismal _thud_. _**"Misera infelix animae,"**_ the Roman crooned as he gave Hiccup a kick for good measure before slamming the door shut. The ominous _click-clack_ of the lock echoed through the thick wooden walls. They were shut in.

"Ouch...I'm okay, _not_ the first time," Hiccup groaned as he carefully raised himself to a sitting position.

"_Misera Felix ani-_WHATEVER...you think those skunkbags are ever gonna realize that we don't speak Latin?" Sam ranted. "Tell you what, let's - "

There was a shout of _**"Defer in amphitheatro!"**_ and the cart jolted violently as it began to clumsily roll down the bumpy stone street.

Carly stood up and tried to peer through the window. "That last part sound a little like 'amphitheater,' guys!"

Freddie's head shot up, his eyes wide with shock. "Oh, no..."

"That's bad?" Ruffnut asked.

_"Potentially."_

Looking anxiously outside, Carly saw the cart passing underneath an arch, then burst out into a wide, open, smooth street. Lining the well-kept pathway was a cheering crowd of men and women, Roman citizens, gawking at the cart, pointing at it and laughing. _**"Morere barbaros! Morere barbaros!"**_ they chanted excitedly. They didn't sound like very _friendly_ citizens.

Gibby flinched as something struck the side of the cart, and Carly stepped back hurriedly as a rock banged against the barred window. "_Unessecary..._sounds like we were expected."

Fishlegs now peeked outside. "This isn't Rome, we were only traveling for a few days...they've got an _outpost!_ This close to Berk?"

"They're brave savages, I'll give 'em that much," replied Snotlout.

The cart turned a corner and traveled down a slope, passing away from the crowd and into the shadow of...something. They passed through another archway, then their prison was rolling through a cool, dark tunnel, with shouts in even stranger tongues than Latin echoing around them. The cart jerked to a halt, and the _click-clack _sound was heard once more. Hiccup stood, carefully balancing on his prosthetic, wearing a mask of grim determination as the door fell open.

_**"Venite filli. Spe sumus te."

* * *

**_

The boys were in one prison, the girls in another.

They'd been herded to the side of the tunnel - which was actually some kind of entryway - and through a small door into an even smaller corridor, lined with caged rooms. They moved quickly, passing scared-looking men screaming in foreign languages, staring fearfully into space, or just curled in a corner. They were tossed into their respective rooms and locked in without even the 'be quiet' order. And even if it _had_ been given, it wouldn't have made much difference.

"Open, _open!_" Sam was yelling as she huddled over the lock. She'd saved the bone she was gnawing on and was now trying to use it as an impromptu lockpick - and failing.

Astrid rolled her eyes and shifted into a running position, ready to break down the thing, but Carly and Ruffnut stopped her. "Not a good idea," the former said.

"_How_ can locks like this in the _Middle Ages?_" Sam fumed as she gave up and sat down sulking. "Nubs...with those stupid helmets...dumber than Freddie..." In a few minutes, she'd curled up and was snoring.

Astrid picked up the bone and examined it critically. "I'm gonna try."

"I know Sam best, and if _she's_ given up busting out, then it really is no use," Carly responded.

Astrid turned to Ruffnut for support, but she could tell that her friend was with Carly on this one. Sighing dramatically, she found a spot on the floor. Ruff and Carly did the same, and it wasn't long before the girls were fast asleep.

That is, until Carly awoke to the sound of hushed whispers coming through the wall.

"I saw the bump on her head, and I don't think she just tripped over something," Hiccup was saying.

"So you believe her." That was Tuffnut.

They were talking about _her,_ she realized with a pang of fear.

"She's too nice for it," Freddie interrupted. "Take it from me, she just wouldn't. Not willingly."

"Well, I _did_ look up a few legends about Alvin," Fishlegs started, "and he _does_ have a reputation of..._physcological warfare_..."

"Gee, I wonder why he's called Alvin the _TREACHEROUS_," Snotlout retorted.

The boys sat silently for a minute, keeping each other under suspicious surveillance. Carly edged closer to the wall, near-desperate to hear how this ended. Had her sudden burst of courage really paid off?

Gibby looked at his companions. Even he understood the seriousness of it all. "...I've...I've never heard her..._talk_ like that before."

Freddie nodded in agreement - he was still a bit shellshocked about his friend's outburst in the cargo hold. All of them were, although they wouldn't admit it. With their inner thoughts voiced by Gibby, they seemed to relax.

Relieved, Carly let out a contented sigh - a little too contented. She could hear them shifting to scrutinize the wall as she clapped a hand over her mouth. _Here we go again..._

"Let's not get worried. We all just need sleep," Hiccup whispered, just loud enough to penetrate the wall.

"Yeah, got a _big_ day tomorrow!" added Tuffnut. "Personally, I think Snotlout and I should lead the attack..."

"_Attack?_ This requires _stealth!_" Fishlegs interrupted.

They knew it was her, and they knew what she was thinking. It was their way of saying, "We're not going anywhere." And it worked.

* * *

_**"Surge miserabilis filios surgunt!"**_

Unwillingly, Carly cracked an eye open to see a Roman standing in the cell doorway, eying the girls with contempt. She groaned as she hoisted herself up, along with the others. The soldier looked them over, then abruptly slapped Sam across the face. _**"Es omnia vigilo? Opus est mane vigilemus! Nescis Saturni venatus?"**_

He had put himself in mortal peril, as Sam would be happy to show him, but Astrid grabbed her by the arm before she could lunge. "Not here."

The soldier just sneered before dragging the girls out into the hallway and marching them down the corridor - _deeper_ into it. "No cart this time?" Sam said curiously.

At the end of the hall, the soldier flung open another door, and they were shoved into a large, circular room, stuffed to the gills with weapons. Muttering to himself, the soldier strode around the room for a moment, surveying its contents, before grabbing one of those feathered helmets and tossing it at Astrid. She glared at him with hatred, but reluctantly put the thing on. Next, the soldier selected a shield. It was a large, long thing, with a wreath painted on the front. This he also tossed at Astrid, along with a sword, followed by some kind of metal thing which looked like it went around a person's leg. As Astrid put the armor on, he equipped Ruffnut with the same weapons. Carly received a helmet with a tall black crest, two of the leg things, a small, bronze shield, and a tall spear, which she looked at with confusion. _Why do I get paired with the weird weapon?_

"HEY!" shouted Sam, whom the soldier seemed to have forgotten. "What do I get? Come on, where's my helmet, let's get this over with."

The soldier smirked evilly before tossing Sam a shoulder guard. "...Weird helmet," she commented before quickly sidestepping a dagger. "Okay, _that's_ a little better. But don't I get a sword or..._no."_ Her train of thought derailed as she turned to see the soldier presenting her with a pronged trident. "No way I'm using _that_ in a fight! What is this, _The Little Mermaid_?" she added as it was thrust into her hand. But the soldier wasn't done yet; he fished around in a pile of shields for a moment before emerging with...a net. A large net, which he tossed at Sam.

"...Momma is not amused," she hissed as the soldier looked them over.

A door opened on the opposite side of the room, revealing another soldier. _**"Parata. Ubi fortes aliis quatuor?"**_

The girls were pushed across the room and through the new door, which slammed shut behind them like a trap. They were outside now - sort of. They stood at the end of another tunnel, next to a tall, barred door, like the ones Berk had in their arena..._in their arena._

_Oh, NO._

The door was rising up, the cheers were getting louder, and the soldier was pushing the three makeshift gladiators into the ring.

_I don't care __**how**__ famous these guys are, __**I HATE THEM.**_

After the darkness of their cell, the girls were momentarily blinded by the sunlight, reflecting off the arena's white stone walls and shining over the open ring. As they adjusted to the brightness, they noticed another door rising up, and the boys were unceremoniously pushed out, arrayed with similar weaponry and looking twice as terrified. Carly flashed them a small smile as the girls approached, but they just stood there and trembled. Even Gibby was freaked.

Some men blew out an elaborate fanfare on long trumpets, and the cheering rose to a deafening roar as an aging Roman man with gray hair, sitting proudly in a boxed-off section only a few feet above the ring, stood up and waved to the crowd. He was wearing a flowing toga dyed a solid purple, embroidered with fancy designs in gold thread. Next to him stood a young, dark-haired man, wearing a simpler white toga, bordered with a dark purple stripe. And next to _him_ stood a third figure, shorter than the other two, his face covered by a long black cloak. He wasn't cheering, just watching silently. From looking at her friends' faces, Carly could tell what they were all thinking: this guy was scarier than the others.

_**"Cives, cives sinistra!"**_ the older man called out. _**"Do tibi pulcherrimo Imperator!"**_

The crowd went nuts as a fourth man stepped into the box. He, too, was dressed in a purple tunic with gold embroidery, but he was slightly younger than the other man - and he wore a golden wreath on his head.

"Their...chief," Fishlegs gasped in awe.

"GLADIATORS!" the man yelled at the kids. "Come to us!"

Hurriedly, the kids shuffled across the arena and lined up in front of the box.

"Um, sir?" Hiccup began hesitantly. "I think there's been a really big misunderstanding here, if we could just talk this out - "

"Who are you, where are we, and whadaya want, ya SKUNKBAGS?" Sam interrupted, pointing her trident towards the men threateningly.

The man's eyes narrowed. It seemed he knew what 'skunkbags' actually meant. "I am known as Honoratus, General of Rome, and I do business on behalf of my Emperor." He gestured to the guy with the wreath. "And this lovely haven is our outpost of Sinistra. Built with the _exclusive_ purpose to keep an eye on the Viking population."

"And invade them?"Astrid asked hatefully.

"When the time came. _Which it has!"_ Honoratus yelled to the spectators, who broke into wild applause.

"...Nice. So what does this have to do with us, exactly?" said an unimpressed Snotlout.

"Not with _you_, specifically - with the Dragon Whisperer," Honoratus answered, smiling evilly at Hiccup. "We've heard you have a talent with the winged monsters - let's see how you fare against _**these**_!"

The doors opened up, and out poured an array of snarling, angry, very-much-ticked-off dragons.

"RUN!"

* * *

'Living history' took on a whole new meaning as the kids dashed hopelessly around the combat ring, pursued by the half-insane beasts - a Gronckle, a Nadder, and a Nightmare - while the spectators cheered and roared with laughter, like it was all some kind of sick joke. _**"Rem excitaret ea viverra!"**_ the Emperor cried with glee.

"What's the plan?" Freddie yelled to Hiccup as the Nightmare slammed into the side of the ring, almost crushing them.

"This _is_ the plan!"

"This plan is _suckish!_ You are _bad_ at making plans!" Sam shrieked, fending off the Gronckle.

A familiar scent got Carly's attention. _Eels!_ _That explains the phsyco aspect..._

Something small jumped her from behind, knocking her to the ground. Unable to see through the narrow slits of her clunky helmet, she balled her hands into fists and flailed around wildly. All she managed to punch was the air, and the creature jumped on her face, emitting a screech that was ear-splitting, bloodcurdling - and chillingly familiar.

The call of a Terrible Terror.

Horror and rage shot through Carly as she knocked her adversary aside and quickly stood up, trying desperately to see through her helmet, to get a good look at the dragon. Her weapons lost, she slowly knelt down and slowly, gently extended her hand. The Terror's yellow eyes filled with frenzied bloodlust as it hissed and snapped at her. _It's the helmet,_ she realized. _I gotta take this thing off...no, I'm not __**that**__ stupid._ She looked up to see that she knelt underneath the Emperor's box, and its occupants were glaring down at her. _I can't say anything...she might not recognize my voice anyway._ _But...there's one thing._

Standing up to her full height, Carly Shay closed her eyes, drew in a breath, and let out the girliest, most feminine scream she'd ever made.

The cheering stopped, the Emperor grimaced, her friends covered their ears, uttering loud complaints, even the dragons stopped in their tracks to see the source of the terrible noise.

Carly wasn't sure how long she'd done it, only that the whole arena was silent when she was finished. She sank to her knees, breathing deeply, then dared to look up at the dragon.

Said dragon was sitting quietly, eyes wide with disbelief. It trilled lightly, then sprang to its feet and began to screech once more...not at Carly, _but the other dragons._ What was weirder, it sounded almost like it was screeching out _directions._ But that paled in comparison to the weirdness of the other dragons roaring in response, they beginning to parade around the arena, gaily flapping their wings, stirring up a wave of dust.

Hidden from sight, the Gronckle buzzed past Carly, knocking off her helmet and sending her into a coughing fit. When she recovered, she noticed that the Terror was nestled patiently inside the helmet, chirping and rolling the thing towards her - and that it was blue.

"..Thanks, Crystal," Carly whispered.

In response, Crystal trilled once more, then crawled from the helmet and leapt onto Carly's head, motioning at the helmet. Getting her drift, Carly carefully put the oversized helmet back on, over her friend, just as the dust finally settled.

"..._Why?_" Ruffnut coughed as the other teens stared at the scene, trying to come up with a logical explanation for what had just happened.

_**"Heu qui puella Bibliotheca dico de illis?**__ What did you do to them?"_ Honoratus yelled.

Carly managed a weak smile. "I...I got 'em," she squeaked, gesturing to where Crystal had been a second ago. It didn't fool anyone, least of all Honoratus.

_**"Subsisto capimus!" **_he thundered. As his command echoed around the arena, the doors quickly slid up. Out charged dozens of soldiers, swords in hand, forcing the kids to the cener of the arena. Several of the soldiers carried eels, which they tossed at the dragons, making them huddle in fear as well.

"Perhaps this was a mistake," Honoratus said, gazing at his doomed prisoners. "Your execution should have been less elaborate. _**"Obscurum occidere cine puellae omnes!"**_

The soldiers closed in, packing their prey into a tighter circle. Carly bumped into Astrid, who was too scared to even insult her one last time. _I've doomed us all again._ _I'm sorry, Hiccup. I'm sorry, Mrs. Haddock. I'm, sorry, Freddie. I'm sorry, Astrid. Sam, I lied, you can't get taco-flavored ice cream in Mexico, because it DOESN'T EXIST - _

_**"Nocent!"**_

The kids dared to open their eyes and look up. The dark-haired young man was standing up, a look of fear on his face. _**"Pone arma,"**_ he called out to the soldiers, who lowered their weapons.

"Eligius, _what mean you_?" Honoratus snarled.

Eligius bravely drew himself up to his full height. "Father, I cannot allow you to kill these Vikings." There were boos and hisses from the crowd as he continued. "Our foreign visitor - " here he gestured to the figure in the cloak - "has something to say on the matter."

The figure stood as Honoratus replied, "Speak quickly, foreigner."

"..._There ees but one who can stop thees madnees,_" the foreigner answered, in a voice like the hissing of a snake. It was horrible to the teens' ears...and yet they felt like they'd heard it before.

"And - who is that?"

"_He ees called_...ARUTHOR OF THE HOOBSHER FYORDS!"

And all Hel broke loose.

Thirty Roman warriors in the ring suddenly whirled around, attacking their companions and shielding the kids, whose mouths dropped open as the stranger threw off his cloak, revealing the face of...

"SPENCER!"

Spencer Shay - for indeed it was him - laughed in Honoratus' face before jumping out of the box and into the ring, followed by Eligius. One Roman tossed Spencer a large spear, which he twirled menacingly over his head. "Hear my fierce bellowing and fear the power of my LONGSTAFF! Come on, Ellie! Nobody lives forever!" he yelled, charging enthusiastically into the fray.

Freddie gasped excitedly. "Oh, _yeah! Go, Spencer!_" he shouted. Gripping his sword determinedly, he decided to help out - as did the others.

More soldiers and a good deal of spectators rushed into the arena, only to be beaten back. The dragons gleefully shot fireballs at anything that moved, the soldiers _did_ learn to fear Spencer's longstaff, and Carly and Hiccup caught a glimpse of Sam dragging four soldiers around in her net. A scream got their attention, and they turned to see Astrid pinned to the wall by a soldier, her own sword centimeters from her throat and about to be driven home.

"ASTRID!" Hiccup yelled. There was no way he'd get to her in time. Their eyes met briefly for one last look, before her murderer drew the sword back and..._POW!_

The sword was knocked out of the Roman's hands by a small, bright orange fireball. The man had only about half a second before the Viking girl he was about to dispose of leveled him with a brutal punch.

Carly's helmet lay at her feet, and Crystal was coiled around her outstretched arm like some kind of fire-spitting arm gauntlet. Astrid shook her head in wonder as her boyfriend stumbled over and embraced her protectively. Carly flashed her a sassy-yet-friendly smile in return. _I can't believe that worked._

"Guys!" Spencer called, pointing to an open door. "Let's get outta here!"

They needed no encouragement.

* * *

In a way, our heroes were thankful that their public execution had been scheduled as a major event. The streets of Sinistra were deserted as the gang ran for their lives toward the docks, alongside Eligius and the thirty soldiers.

"We take a left at the next turn!" Freddie yelled. "No, wait, was it left or...?"

"No time for that, Fredley!"

"Follow me!" said Eligius. "I shall guide you!" He was met with skeptical looks, but Spencer intervened. "You can trust him. Don't worry."

For once, Spencer was right. Eligius apparently knew Sinistra like the back of his hand, and it wasn't long before they were at the docks, where a warship was floating patiently, with its sails unfurled and its crew standing on the deck, seemingly anticipating their arrival. And that wasn't the only strange thing.

"_How_ did you find Roger?" Hiccup asked incredulously as the Boneknapper landed before them.

"Well, it's a long story, but I - "

"MY FREDWARD!"

The teens's smiles faded. Another familiar face was sitting on Roger's back. "Uh, Mom? Really not a good time," Freddie squeaked as his mother crushed him in a near-aggressive hug.

"...Oh, yes! Of course! Come along, there's time for a reunion later, kids!" Mrs. Benson said, but they were already climbing on Roger.

The Emperor, Honoratus, and the populace of Sinistra rounded the corner and charged onto the docks - just in time to see their best warship sailing off into the unknown, and their Viking prisoners escaping atop a dragon.

"WOO-HOO! YEAH!" they shouted in ecstacy. They were alive, they were friends again, and they were going home.

"Now, about Roger?"

"Long story short, I am never complaining about the weather again. Now let's get back to Berk,_ we got butt-kicking to do!_"

* * *

**Next chapter: Good butt-kicking requires a good game plan.**

**I stuck another Disney reference in there - "Nobody lives forever!" is from **_**The Emperor's New Groove,**_** which is seriously underrated, in my opinion. But getting back to the story, THIS IS FINALLY UP. *exhales and sinks to the floor* I hope I did a good job, cuz' I'm REALLY not sure. Feedback appreciated, but I'm not gonna start the next chapter for a few days - I need some rest. I KNOW this chapter is the longest so far.**

**~A. Kingsleigh.**


	14. Chapter 14

***sinks into chair in front of laptop and sighs dramatically* And so, I return from my hiatus. I'm glad you all enjoyed the INSANELY long last chapter, which I'm still not pleased with - but with a little luck, this (hopefully) much simpler chapter will take a shorter time to write. I'm thinking there will be three more chapters after this one, mayber four...but probably three. Anyway, here we go.**

**DISCLAIMER: For Odin and Thor's sake, NO!

* * *

**

The night had fallen, cloudy and starless, when the group arrived at Berk. Boneknappers were already fast, but the dragon seemed to sense that trouble was brewing, and a trip which took three days by boat took a few fleeting hours with wings. Thinking quickly, Hiccup had told Spencer to fly Roger as high as possible, approach from the north and land on the far side of the island, away from the village. No doubt the place was guarded to the teeth. All were carrying a weapon taken from the battle at Sinistra. Flying overhead, Roger spotted a grassy clearing and alighted without a sound, as only his species could do.

"Don't worry, I know what to do. I practically have a _degree_ in this," Spencer declared, taking control of the situation.

"Yep, a degree from the University of Galaxy Geeks," quipped Sam.

Spencer retaliated. "Those movies teach the immortal lessons of friendship and honor and that a base camp is a place to watch the enemy and plan your attack! I am fully equipped to locate one - "

But the others weren't listening. They were following the Viking teens, who were already sneaking quietly through the woods, towards the heart of the island.

"...That could work, too," Spencer said dumbly as they set off.

Within a few minutes, Hiccup had guided them to the cove where he and Toothless had first bonded. "High walls, a short walk to the village, _near impossible_ to find at night...how's this?" he asked.

"Perfect," said Spencer, who was now searching around for a stick. Grabbing one, he began to scribble in the dirt. "Now, team huddle. We're gonna need a couple thick logs, something stretchy, a _really big anvil_ and a clear shot at the Alvin guy's head."

"Uh, Spencer? Shouldn't we maybe get a look at what we're dealing with here?" asked Freddie, trying to use logic in a way that didn't make him look scared half to death. "Some of us can go scouting, and the..._non-scouters_ can stay here where they'll be safe and not disturbed and - "

The unmistakable sound of twigs cracking sprang from the shadows and echoed through the cove. Everyone's heads whipped around as Carly squeaked, "Disturbed!"

Astrid yanked the stick from Spencer's hands and pointed it threateningly in the direction of the sound. "Show yourself!" she yelled, her voice slightly quivering. The group recoiled in shock as a large, dark mass detached itself from the darkness and moved slowly toward them, seeming to limp slightly. Crystal scurried onto Carly's shoulder, hissing and preparing a fireball, when the mass began to _speak._

Its voice was unmistakable. _"Thor's beard,_ yeh whiny fire-spitter! Ye got good eyes an' a brain that works! Save that shot fer a _real_ foe."

_"Gobber!"_ they all cried as the one-legged blacksmith stepped into the light. Not at all caring about being Vikingly, Hiccup stumbled to his feet and flung himself at his mentor, hugging him as best as he could.

Gobber sighed and shook his head as he gently pulled Hiccup off him. "Don't go gettin' all emotional. Ain't quite the time fer it," he said. More masses rose up and stepped into the light, revealing themselves to be Stoick's friends. The group excitedly advanced on them, asking, "How'd you get out? Isn't the place crawling with Romans? What about the dragons? HOW'D YOU GET OUT?"

"Now that," Gobber began, "is a verra long tale, quite the epic when yeh think abou' it, but not too hard tae whittle down, of course - "

"Wait!" They all turned to look at a very worried-looking Hiccup. "...Where's...have they...Dad?" His voice cracked at the last word.

"He's fine, lad," Gobber mumbled unconvincingly. "Well, maybe not _fine_, but still alive."

The teens' faces blanched along with Hiccup's as visions of unspeakable tortures and mutilated limbs flashed through their minds -

"Last I heard, he'd gone and locked himself in the Meade Hall, took his hammer with 'im," Gobber added quickly. "Won't be moved, at least fer now."

"We're getting him out of there, _tomorrow,_" Astrid retorted forcefully, walking to stand next to Hiccup.

"Agreed," said Carly, who did the same, her friends quickly following...except for Freddie.

"I think it's time for a quick lesson in Seattle 101," quipped Mrs. Benson, pulling her son back towards her with an iron grip. "Where we come from, there's this activity called _suicide,_ known as the _killing_ of oneself - "

Hiccup spun around. _"We're going to save him!"_ he almost yelled. In her shock, Mrs. Benson released Freddie, who slowly backed away, going to stand with her companions. _Think that shut her up,_ Carly thought, watching Freddie's mother plant herself on a rock, a sour and yet guilty look on her face.

Hiccup's brows furrowed in concentration as he knelt down, picked up Spencer's forgotten stick and started to sketch a map of Berk in the ground. "But not just yet. We'll need more weapons, it's the only way. Gobber, are they keeping all the dragons in the ring?"

"Yeh can't be thinkin' of...yes," the blacksmith finished quickly, seeing the boy's eyes narrow.

"We go _into_ Berk to get them out?" Snotlout asked incredulously.

"Only two or three...but we'll need some kind of disguise."

"Yeah, like _that's_ gonna be so easy," said Sam mockingly.

Gibby, meanwhile, had tuned out of the conversation and was staring off into space, deep in thought. "Hey, Spencer?" he asked presently. "There's something I've been wanting to ask...and, well, with all this stuff happening there's just been no time - "

_"WHAT?"_ they all shouted at him.

"...You like telling the story about the frozen head, but I keep forgetting how you got the keys to it."

One could almost see the lightbulbs going off above Carly, Sam, Freddie and Spencer's heads. They slowly turned to look at their friend, mischievous grins spreading on their faces.

"So...how'd it work, again?"

Spencer let his gaze travel upward. "How did it work, indeed."

* * *

"_NO!_ You two come with me _now!_ You are in _very big trouble..._er..._**E Pluribus Unum!**_"

If they'd thought of this earlier, they could have used Eligius's helmet, but he had apparently thought it was a good idea to toss it into the ocean on the way there, so they had to commandeer Snotlout's. Spencer hoped it was dark enough for the soldiers guarding the arena to overlook the fact that the 'grand feathered crest' was several particularly leafy branches hastily tied to the back of the thing, plus the two stubs where ram's horns had once been.

Dragging along his two prisoners, Spencer took a deep breath and boldly strode towards the arena and the five soldiers at its entrance. _**"E Pluribus Unum!"**_ he shouted again, confidently spouting out the only Latin he knew as he strode toward the guards.

Said guards, on the other hand, were a bit more fluent. _**"Exi! Nemo veni huc!"**_ the burliest of them shouted while the others glared menacingly and blocked the entrance.

It was time to go into Aruthor Mode. "Excuse _ME,_ but I am _far more important than you,_ as one could obviously tell by my _grand feathered crest!_" Spencer yelled in a deep voice.

The leader of the guards had his sword pressed against his adversary's throat in half a second. "All are forbidden to enter here," he snarled.

"I know! So kindly explain why I had to stop these two _rebels_ - " here Spencer tightened his grip on the teens, who elicited small whimpers of fear in response, " - from attempting to _infiltrate_ this prison!"

"We were unaware."

"Oh, they were _unaware!_ Did you hear that, they were unaware," Spencer said to his prisoners. "Last time I checked, it was _your job to be aware!_"

"Lord Amatus has given us permission to slit the throats of anyone who dares..."

"Well, then I'll just have to send a messenger to Lord Socco about your impudence."

"We know not of one called Lord - "

_"GOOD __**GODS,**__ MAN, __**WHAT ELSE DON'T YOU KNOW?**__"_ Spencer thundered aggressively, tossing the two kids to the ground, puffing out his chest, putting on his game face and assuming a battle stance.

The soldier's eyes widened at this display. He turned to his companions and began whispering to them in a hushed voice. The others nodded, and he turned back to Spencer. "Very well. You are permitted to enter the hold. In addition, we respectfully recognize your superior rank - "

_"BEGONE, YO!"_ Spencer yelled in response, pointing toward the village.

Heads held high, the soldiers began to file off. "WAIT!" Spencer called, stopping them. "Give me your helmets and your weapons."

"Why?"

"For Lord SOC-_CO!_"

The four guards scowled, but dropped their equipment with a stern nod from their leader, who did the same. When their helmets and swords lay at Spencer's feet, they marched defiantly back towards Berk.

Spencer stood watching the path for a minute, to check if they were really gone, then turned to his prisoners. "Coast is clear, guys."

Carly and Hiccup slowly rose to their feet, gasping with suppressed laughter. "I admit it, that _was_ pretty good," Carly told her brother.

"Cuz' I am so AWE-SOME!" Spencer crowed gleefully as he skipped around. "Did that work perfectly, or did that work perfectly?"

"Yes, hooray for you, now come on," interrupted Hiccup, who was already fumbling with the arena door's locks. As Carly and Spencer helped him, the latter remarked, "For the record, I managed to pull that off _twice._" The door swung upward and Spencer overdramatically crept inside. He was clearly loving this. The teens followed behind, infinitely more business-like, and Hiccup whispered off-handedly, "For the record, I'm surprised he managed to pull it off _once._"

His thought was broken off by a piteous dragons' roar emitting from one of the holds, all of them locked tight. The single roar was joined by others, desperate cries of lamentation mixed with a sliver of hope that these visitors were friends.

It was time to get to work.

Levers were pulled, switches were flipped, and one by one, the locks were lifted. When they realized what was going on, the dragons cautiously pushed open the doors and crawled into the open. Seeing that these humans were Vikings, they instantly perked up and fluttered towards their rescuers, squawking joyfully and nuzzling them. Before long, they heard a dull growl from above. Roger was hovering overhead with Freddie on his back, the Boneknapper calling out to the other dragons to follow him. The air filled with the flapping of dozens of wings as the scaly creatures ecstatically took to the sky, following Roger to the cove as the group had planned.

"That's one step outta the way...come on, let's get back," Carly said as she headed for the exit. Hearing only one set of footsteps behind her, she turned to look back.

Hiccup stood in one of the doorways, focused intently on whatever was inside. He was quivering slightly and - blinking back tears? What, did some dragon not..._oh, no._ In a flash, they were rushing toward him. _No,_ Carly thought._ No, no **no!**_ **_Not him!_** "Hiccup!" she called out. "Is...is it...?"

Before she could finish the question, she got her answer.

Hiccup laughed with joy as his best friend burst out into the open, knocking him to the ground and licking him frantically. Carly gasped with delight, resisting the urge to scream at the top of her lungs - never had it felt so good to be wrong. Toothless began poking and sniffing his rider, as though making sure he was okay. "Yeah, I was worried too, bud," Hiccup replied, hugging the Night Fury.

"Um, I really hate to kill the moment and everything," began Spencer, "but we should be heading back to - AAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHH!"

The others' head whipped around, and their eyes widened with horror. The five Roman soldiers were not as stupid as Spencer thought - actually, make that the _twelve_ Roman soldiers.

"Did you truly believe you could fool us, useless Vikings?" their leader sneered. _**"Caedite eos! Non miserebitur!"**_ he shouted, and all the soldiers drew their swords and charged forward.

This time, however, the gang had with a Night Fury. An _angry_ Night Fury, who wasn't about to be separated from his rider again. Taking charge, Toothless barked at Hiccup, Carly and Spencer, who immediately climbed on his back. With a ferocious roar, the dragon bounded forward. The soldiers merely smirked and lowered their swords, preparing for a kill - their smirks vanished when Toothless spat out a fireball. Those that weren't burnt to a crisp in five seconds were unceremoniously trampled underfoot as the dragon rushed out of the arena.

_**"Occupare pecus!"**_ shouted the head guard, pushing himself to his feet. But their prey was already gone.

* * *

"Change of plans, guys!" Hiccup said when they got back to the cove. "They saw us, and they've probably told Alvin. We're running out of time - we have to attack Berk _now._"

Everyone gasped, and even the dragons looked shocked. "You can't be serious, lad!" "They'd slaughter us in an instant!" "It's too great a risk!" "I know yer worried, Hiccup, but _think about what yer sayin'!"_

"Besides," said Tuffnut, "we don't know a thing about their defenses!"

"We know _everything_ about them."

The group turned to see Sam coming down the path, along with Freddie and Fishlegs. "Where have you been?" questioned Astrid.

"Oh, just a little business. _Spying_ business. Spying and _attack-planning _business."

Within a few minutes, the two boys had drawn a map of Berk in the dirt, noting all the Romans' defenses, strong spots and weak spots. They had boats guarding the south side, but they evidently didn't expect an attack from the main island, and that section was guarded by just a few groups of guards. Of course, that was all going to change quickly. But, Fishlegs reasoned, they could use the dragons to soften up the new arrivals before they could get settled, then fire another round to weaken them further, then move in for the fight. For the actual battle, they'd have to start from the air, blasting holes in the defenses until some of the Vikings could free the other prisoners, giving them reinforcements. "Any questions?" asked Freddie as they finished.

Hiccup raised his hand. "I'll go with the ground forces, if that's all right - Toothless can't fly without his gear, and I...don't wanna..."

"You shouldn't have to," Carly replied. "Freddie?" she asked, flashing her 'please, for me?' smile.

"...Yeah, you guys stay together. Anyone else?" This time Gibby raised his hand. Before he could ask anything, Freddie replied, "If you're flying, then yes, you can take off your shirt."

"YES!" cried Gibby, quickly disposing of it, to the faint horror of the other teens. Ruffnut shuddered. "That's gonna give me nightmares."

Once everything was in place, the group set out. The Dragon Riders silently rose into the air and coasted off to begin the attack, while Hiccup and Carly crept through the woods towards the outskirts of Berk, followed by Astrid, Fishlegs, Freddie and the twins. They peered over a ledge, and there it was; the once-peaceful village, crawling with the evil, shadowy soldiers.

Hiccup watched the scene with fear. "This isn't gonna be easy," he breathed to himself.

"Neither was ending the _last_ war we got ourselves into," Astrid remarked. "You of all people should know that it was worth it, though."

He gave her a warm, thankful smile, then turned to the others. "We ready?"

"Yep!"

Freddie was watching the sky. He could see Sam gliding in on Taser for the first blast. "In 5...4...3...2..."

_BANG!_

A ball of bright red flame struck the Roman forces with dizzying accuracy, followed by several others. There were eight blasts, then a few seconds of silence - the first round.

The kids got ready, gripping their weapons tightly, waiting for the flames to begin raining down again.

_POW!_

There were ten blasts this time, fired one right after another. When the smoke cleared, there was another moment of silence. Then...

_**"Bibliotheca rebelles! Bibliotheca rebelles!"**_

That was their cue. In the blink of an eye, the kids were charging on the weakened Roman forces. "YAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

The fight for Berk had begun.

* * *

**Next chapter: Action, humor, hidden strengths, and surprises everywhere...it **_**is**_** the final battle, after all.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this. I'm swamped with school right now, so I don't know when I'll be able to get cracking on the next chapter. Oh, **_**1984...**_

**~A. Kingsleigh**


	15. Chapter 15

**My readers, you are in luck - you're going to get an EXTRA CHAPTER! What I mean is: there will be three more chapters after **_**this**_** chapter. I decided to split this into two chappies, because it would have included the final battle AND the final confrontation with Alvin, which I just couldn't bring myself to rush through. I hope you enjoy - let the battle begin!**

**DISCLAIMER: Remember when I owned the rights to iCarly and HTTYD? Then that panda bear started...oh wait, that was a dream. (iBeatTheHeat reference: I'm not THAT crazy.)

* * *

**

The plan had come together - well, except for one stubborn piece hiding in the Meade Hall which was going to be _brutally_ dealt with. Alvin was not a patient man.

The Viking-turned-Roman stood on the steps of the tallest structure in Berk, coldly surveying his old home. Somehow he had never noticed how beautiful it was in the early morning light. Was this the way in which all great conquerors admired their newly captured territory? Technically, some would say, it was for the _Emperor _- but it would go to himself in the end, of course. Honoratus knew precisely which strings to pull in these situations. _Perhaps we'll make the proper arrangements to secure me the position of __**Gubernatrix,**_ he thought fondly. _I'm not a young man anymore...and these people need someone to keep them in line._

He had ordered that none of the Berkians be killed, merely rounded up and taken to the village center. There he had grandly proclaimed himself their leader and that as his subjects, they were to recognize his rule by causing no more trouble for his noble troops - all who resisted would have their throats slit just enough to kill them slowly and dragged through the streets of Berk until death. There was a shocked and disgusted gasp at this, and some vehement whispers swept through the crowd, but none spoke out against him and all quickly retreated to their houses, where they had remained for the past three days.

Well, almost all of them.

Alvin's rage overcame him again as he stormed back up the stairs and violently kicked the door of the Meade Hall. Stoick was inside here, _mocking him_, he was sure of that. He slammed himself into the thick wooden door, again and again. It was so obvious - he would break the thing down, and that would be the end of it. Also, it gave him pleasure to destroy something that had belonged to these savages.

"They won't go down easily," a deep voice rang from inside. "Yeh should know that, brother."

To Alvin, this was a personal insult. "I am _not_ your brother," he hissed.

"Alvin...Alvin, if yeh would only think about this. _We were young. _We both made mistakes, _terrible mistakes_...it was all my fault, and...I've grown wiser."

"So have I...because of you, I thankfully discovered my _true_ course in life."

"Betraying and enslaving your own people."

"Giving them a proper leader and ridding them of the tyrants who blinded them to the truth. You...and, of course, the charming young man who _was_ your heir." Alvin knew perfectly well what he was getting into.

For a moment, there was no response, then Stoick replied, with a slight quiver in his voice, "...What did you do to him?"

"I merely had him sent to an outpost - to a friend of mine. They needed a few warriors to amuse the citizens with their _battle prowess._ I truly am sorry that I was unable to witness his moment in the arena. I could have described it for you...right down to his final screams."

That had to have done it. Calmly, Alvin stepped back, turned and walked slowly down the steps of the Meade Hall, smiling wickedly. When he reached the bottom, he stopped and waited. Any moment now...

The doors of the hall were flung open, crashing against the stone walls as Stoick charged outside, brandishing his hammer and screaming a furious, anguished war cry, bent on destroying the man who had slain his son. _That was easy, _Alvin thought gleefully. He waited until Stoick's yell got louder, signaling that he was coming up behind him, then he balled his remaining hand into a fist and turned around, just in time to knock the chief backwards with a savage blow to the face.

Stoick collapsed onto the step, gritting his teeth with pain. Blood was pouring down his face...the punch had re-broken his nose.

"Now _really_, you can do better than that, Stoick," said Alvin, drawing his sword. "As I recall, you received that very injury and still managed to inflict _major damage._ Do you remember that fight like I do? Why don't we have a rematch, _brother?_"

"...You..." Stoick murmured as he staggered to his feet. "...You..."

"True Vikings _never_ back down from a fight. Are you a true Viking like me?"

"...You...are not a Viking..._YOU'RE NOT MY BROTHER!"_

And with that, the two men threw themselves at each other, determined to end their rivalry then and there. It was just as brutal as their previous fight - no, it wasn't. It was worse. They punched and kicked and bit. Alvin's sword slashed Stoick's face as the latter's hammer slammed into his own jaw. This wasn't like how they had felt during that skirmish of long ago; now, the aim was to kill, and aim for this goal they did. So much so, in fact, that neither of them noticed the dragons swooping in, raining fire down on the outer defenses.

Both men fought their hardest...but it had been a while since Stoick had engaged in true hand-to-hand combat. Alvin, on the other hand, was practically raised on the stuff. With a mere flick of the wrist, Stoick's hammer was knocked aside and Stoick himself was leveled with a violent kick to the stomach.

"Ah, I remember _this_ part!" Alvin teased, pinning Stoick down with his foot.. "The mighty, _invincible_ Viking stands over his vanquished foe. The question is, how does it end? I never found out that part." His warm grin morphed into a slasher smile as he positioned his sword just above Stoick's heart and raised it up, yelling a cry of victory as he prepared to drive it home...

_"YAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"_

Alvin paused. Who was _that?_ Giving Stoick an extra kick to weaken him further, Alvin turned away for a moment to look down at the village. Soldiers were running everywhere, the crude dwellings they had set up were now burning merrily and a large group of people was charging out of the woods towards the village. They looked like Vikings...and that was when he realized _exactly_ what was going on.

It was the boy. And that dark-haired screaming girl. And half the population of Berk. Charging into battle. _Enthusiastically._

His face paled as he heard a low cough behind him, and he turned to see that Stoick had risen to his feet and was smirking. "Yer not a Viking, and yer not my brother," the chief said, "but yeh _are_ a liar."

And he shoved Alvin to the ground and kicked him down the hill.

* * *

Once they actually started, everything seemed to happen at once. Seeing the kids charging out of the woods, the remaining Romans were quick to respond, gripping their weapons and preparing for a bloody skirmish. Toothless, however, was quicker to respond, blasting fireballs as the teens slashed their way through the defenses, continuing their charge. Carly noticed that some Berkians, having figured out what was going on, were coming out of their houses to join the fight. Sam and the others had done a good job of softening up the defenses - the Romans were no match for the Vikings. Within a few minutes, they had been beaten down and the ones that were still alive were running terrified back to the village.

"Well, I'd say that's minus 15 Strength for them," remarked Fishlegs as he watched the fleeing soldiers.

"Aw, come _on,_ we can do better than _that!"_ Ruffnut answered.

Hiccup nodded in response before turning to address the Vikings who had joined them, which now constituted about half the village. _"People of Berk!"_ he shouted. "Alvin the Treacherous has betrayed our people in far greater ways than we thought. Not only has he joined forces with the hated Romans, but under his command they have built an outpost near here, _with the intent of conquering us and murdering me and my father!_ He calls himself our chief, and yet he _dares_ to think we shall accept him after knowing of his atrocities? _DO WE ALLOW THIS?"_

_**"NO!"**_ the Berkians thundered wrathfully.

"Then let us _show_ him our intentions!" Hiccup finished. _"IN THIS BATTLE!"_

The group surged into the outskirts of Berk, shrieking out a piercing, unearthly battle cry and raising their weapons in preparation for war. It was quite a sight, really; the Romans thought so, too - but not in a good way.

As the two groups clashed, Viking axes meeting Roman swords, the kids ducked behind a house to begin the next phase of their plan. "I can see them! They're coming down!" said Freddie, watching their friends in the air circling their dragons, preparing for landing.

Hiccup gathered everyone around. "Remember, don't stray too far, don't get into a fight you can't handle, and above all," he said, looking at the twins, _"don't do anything stupid."_

There was a loud thud as Taser, Gabby, Fireworm and Roger touched down. Sam, Gibby, Snotlout and Spencer leapt off their dragons and ran towards the others.

"Hiccup says don't do anything - "

"I _know,_ Carly," Sam interrupted. "Let's shake 'em up, guys!"

On that note, they split up, the eleven friends going in eleven different directions. There was mischief to be caused.

* * *

Astrid almost felt sorry for the soldier she was terrorizing..._almost._ With his sword knocked out of his hands and her axe at his throat, the man was on his knees, squeaking inchoherently.

"What's that?" Astrid asked, being sweetly malicious. "You like my axe? You want it in your _neck?"_

The Roman apparently understood her, because he fainted dead away.

* * *

Sam was beginning to wish she hadn't taught Ruffnut and Tuffnut the concept of a tag team.

_"Tag!_ You're up!" the blonde Viking boy shouted, running past his sister.

"No fair!"

_"Yes fair!"_

_"Butt-elf!"_

_"Bride of Grendel!"_

_"Then I'd be YOUR bride, you sicko!"_

The twins were too busy arguing to notice a Roman aiming a spear at them. Sam, thankfully, _did_ notice, and knocked the soldier to the ground with the force of a battering ram, pinning his arms behind his back and applying the Vulcan Neck Pinch. _"Dudes!"_ she shouted at Ruff and Tuff to get their attention. "I know how fun that can be but if you want some of the action, you gotta get _in_ the action!"

* * *

Spencer was not having the time of his life...Aruthor was.

_"Fear_ the power of the mighty Aruthor, Supreme Warrior of the Hoobsher Fyords!" Eligius called out to the fighting troops. _**"Annue Aruthor! Annue Aruthor!"**_ he yelled in Latin while Spencer stood alongside him, menacingly chanting, "Hoobsher _Fyords,_ Hoobsher _Fyords..."_

_**"Vacca mi rusticus nos nil refert!"**_ a soldier yelled at them mockingly.

Had Spencer known what this even meant, he would have been even more infuriated than he was as he jumped into the fray. _"No dragon's breath nor devil's play can save you from my wrath to-DAAAAYYY!"_ he sang.

The soldier who had insulted him just stared. "What is this babbling?" he asked.

_"Your blood, it will boil, your flesh I shall burn, it's eternal damnation but I guess that you've earned it!"_

In half a second, the soldier's sword was at Spencer's throat. _**"Si sapias, melius tacere,"**_ he snarled.

"...Okay, yeah, I don't know what that means but I'd just like to translate what _I _was saying..._look behind you."_

The soldier did look - and Snotlout wielding a sword and a Cheshire cat grin was the last thing he ever saw.

* * *

_**"Para morior, viverra exile!"**_

To say that Freddie, Fishlegs and Gibby were having trouble was an understatement. Two burly Romans had them cornered and had decided to make their prey suffer...and they were doing a good job at it. "Where do you think we would cause the most pain if we stabbed you?" one of them asked the boys gaily, as though he hadn't just threatened to kill them horribly.

"We...um," said Freddie, trying to reason with them. "This...nothing...personal..._what do you want?"_

As a response, one of the soldiers grabbed him roughly by his neck and lifted him up. "Merely _your lives - "_

"What is _this?_ How _DARE_ you treat my son and his friends so shamefully! I challenge you to a _battle_, you incredibly wicked people!"

The group turned to see none other than Mrs. Benson, sword in hand, scowling at the soldiers. "Yes, _you!"_ she screeched to drive the point home. Upon seeing their challenger, the soldiers looked at each other incredulously, attempting to conceal their snickers. Then they dropped Freddie to the ground, drew their swords and advanced on the woman. They had no idea they were dealing with a member of the Fencin' Bensons...but they soon figured it out. The fight was practically a playdate for Mrs. Benson, who easily knocked her opponents back, delighting in the horrified expressions on their faces. When she disarmed one soldier, taking his sword for herself, the two decided to hightail it. "Good luck, my darling Fredward! Stay safe!" she called before running off to chase her prey. "You two are in so...much..._trouble!"_

For a moment, the boys just stood there. Even Freddie was trying to comprehend what he'd seen. After a long silence, Gibby spoke up. "I did _not_ know that about your mom."

* * *

If Alvin had a nose, his tumble down the hill would have broken it. After several unsuccessful attempts to get himself up, he finally staggered to his feet and stormed towards the village. _They were not supposed to live...__**how did they escape?**_

_"Where his he? Where is the boy? __**Ubi illi?**__"_ he shouted in a rage, then looked around as though expecting someone to actually have an answer, or even _hear _him. Groaning, he leaned against the side of a house. He was beginning to hurt all over. _Stoick must have broken something..._

That was when he spotted the boy. The skinny figure was running out of the village, the Night Fury at his side. He was headed towards the shore.

_I might not take his village...but I can take his son._

Smirking, Alvin gripped the hilt of his sword and began to follow the boy. There was going to be one thing he could tell the Emperor when all was said and done.

_I have killed the Dragon Whisperer.

* * *

_

**Next chapter: Can Hiccup be saved from his terrible fate? Will Alvin finally be defeated? Does Carly have the strength to fulfill her quest? It all comes down to this...**

**For once, I have the urge to translate one of my Latin phrases: According to Google Translate, 'Vacca mi rusticus nos nil refert,' the insult that gets yelled at Spencer, means 'Frankly, my countryman, us not give a damn.' Man, I just **_**love**_** putting in little jokes like that. Anyway, I have some more news: I'm going to put up a poll on my profile! I have so many story ideas, I can't decide what to undertake next, so I appeal to you - what should be my next writing project? I will announce the winner when I finish this! Please vote and review!**

**~A. Kingsleigh**


	16. Chapter 16

**I had the weirdest dream. I dreamed that Toy Story 3 got an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature...and lost to Kung Fu Panda 2. No, really - **_**Kung Fu Panda 2.**_** Do I understand what happened? My subconscious combined my wish for HTTYD to win an Oscar and my wish for KFP2 to be a good movie. Do I understand **_**why?**_** No, I do not. Okay, now that I've told you about my "experience," WHO'S READY TO SEE SOMEONE'S REAR GET WHACKED? *cricket chirps* OKAY, MAYBE NOT THEIR REAR, BUT WHACKING SHALL OCCUR! *not even the cricket responds* Yeah...I'll be quiet now.**

**DISCLAIMER: I'm running out of witty things to put on this thing, so I shall just say - NYET.

* * *

**

"Where's Hiccup?"

Freddie had finally asked what all the other teens had been wondering. Their leader had said he wasn't going to stray far from the village center - well, they'd been all around Berk and none had seen a sign of him.

"I checked the _forge,_ the _docks, everywhere!"_ yelled Spencer as he joined the group after their search. "It's like he just _vanished from existence!"_

"Okay, guys, let's not be idiots here," said Sam authoritatively. "I'm guessing he just forgot - "

"No, this isn't like Hiccup," Astrid interrupted. She began to pace back and forth, trying to hide her growing worry. "What could have possibly...?"

Suddenly, Crystal snapped to attention. Leaping off Carly's head, the Terror started sniffing the ground fervently. She seemed to have picked up some kind of trail, because she crawled away from the group, stopping several feet away from them, briskly inhaling the scent of the earth. Catching up with her, they saw that Crystal had found a dark splotch of...something. It was a fairly sizable spot and the substance was still wet. It was a dark red, almost black.

"..._Night Fury blood,"_ Fishlegs whispered in fear.

Carly was the first to act. "Crystal! Think you can pick up their trail, girl?"

Crystal obliged, deeply inhaling the scent of the blood, then sniffing the air. She quickly bolted away from the group, around a house and out of sight. When they rounded the corner, the others found her sitting beside another splotch of blood...which continued in a broken, barely visible trail of the stuff, leading out of Berk.

"But...they...we..._that way!"_ Carly blurted out.

Their pursuit was stopped short by an axe hurled in their direction, just missing Gibby's head and embedding itself in the wood of the house next to them. Before the friends realized what was happening, a group of Romans had descended upon them. They were cornered against the house by half a dozen of the soldiers while five more dropped down from the roof. In a rare moment of maturity, Spencer rapidly pushed Carly, Astrid and Crystal out of the fight, yelling, "GO!" before a soldier pounced on him.

Astrid was bleeding from a deep cut on her arm, but she still grabbed Carly's shoulder, jerked her to her feet and practically dragged her out of the village, following the blood trail and gritting her teeth in defiance of the pain she was feeling. Only when they had escaped the village and reached the relative calm of the docks did they stop.

"We stay on the trail. _Quietly,"_ Astrid instructed as she finished bandaging her wound with a length of cloth Carly had ripped from the sleeve of her shirt.

"You're coming with me?"

"If you'd rather head off _by yourself - "_

"I was _going_ to say thank you."

Astrid was clearly caught off-guard by this - _what, had she never been thanked before?_ thought Carly. The blonde-haired girl wore a quizzical expression on her face, as though trying to comprehend what she had just been told. _You need someone to thank you, _Carly thought again. _You need Hiccup...and possibly me.__  
_

"Thanks, Astrid," Carly said as she stood and began to examine the trail. "Well? Are you coming?"

* * *

Night Furies had a _lot_ of blood, it seemed. The trail led away from the docks and around the edge of the island, the sounds of the battle slowly fading into silence. A silence that was way scarier than the noise.

"Well, Terrors are stupid," Astrid snapped unhappily. "At least _that one."_

_"You_ can tell that stuff's still wet - "

A deep rumble broke the eerie stillness, making both girls freeze in surprise. It slowly rose in pitch and became a high, mournful moan before lowering back down to a rumble and fading away, only for the noise to repeat.

Astrid's eyes narrowed in concentration as she tried to pinpoint the location of the sound. Cautiously, she stepped forward, Carly and Crystal following. The trail continued around a corner. As they walked, the splotches of blood got larger and darker, the moans got louder. Readying their weapons, the girls approached the turn. Another moan rose up, much louder this time - the thing making it was dangerously close. Carly and Astrid paused for a moment at the bend, then jumped around it, letting out threatening yells...which faded into gasps of horror.

"...Ohh..."

The blood trail continued for a few more feet, towards a large rock. It finally stopped inside a tiny alcove, eroded from the tough stone. And lying in that alcove, eyes closed in pain, breathing faintly, was Toothless.

_"Gods,_ Toothless, what did those freaks _do to you?"_ Astrid cried, dropping her weapon and running to examine the dragon. The source of the blood was a deep, ugly gash in his side from which the dark liquid was slowly oozing. "It's gonna be okay, boy...it's gonna be okay..."

"Really?" Carly interrupted, dropping down beside her and starting to rip off the remaining sleeve of her shirt.

"If we can stop this flow..._possibly."_

As they stuffed the fabric into the wound, Toothless's eyes slowly opened. "Hey," whispered Carly. "You're all right now. Somewhat."

The Night Fury raised himself up, moaning as he did so. His green eyes were filled with worry as he swung his head farther up the path, roaring piteously before collapsing again.

"...What's he trying to say?"

_"Hiccup,"_ Astrid said. "He's up there." She turned back to Toothless. "Just stopping the flow's not gonna work...Carly, you gotta go find him by yourself."

_"Are you insane?"_

Astrid shoved her battle-axe into Carly's hands. "Listen, I know how to treat this guy. You don't. For all we know, the same thing's happened to Hiccup...Carly, _please."_ She was getting scared now - and if Astrid was scared, there was a pretty good chance that Hiccup really was doomed.

"...I...I'm..." Carly stammered.

A light, warm wind swept gently past her ear. _"You are not alone,"_ the voice of Valhallarama whispered.

The squawking of Crystal brought her back to reality. "I'm...I'm going."

Nodding at Astrid, she stood and followed Crystal down the path and deeper into the island, towards...well, she didn't know.

* * *

The silence was unbearable. Crystal was leading Carly deep into the forest, and the only sounds to be heard were their treading feet and Carly's frightened breathing. The sinking feeling that she was already too late wasn't helping. Any minute now, she believed, she was going to hear that anguished scream from her nightmare. Then Alvin would jump out to reenact the rest of it and they'd all be doomed...it was then that she noticed her dragon circling her feet, trying to push her along.

"Crystal, you crazy - "

Crystal interrupted her with a hiss that sounded eerily like _"Ssshh!"_ She stood rigidly, head cocked slightly as though listening for something. Carly silenced herself, knowing there was a method to the Terror's madness. Then, ever so quietly, like a soft whisper, she heard it. A deep, flowing, velvety voice was drifting toward them.

"...Poor child..."

It was him. Oh, _snap,_ it was _him._

Carly just wanted to either scream or freeze in fear, or both - but she began to cautiously creep forward towards the hated voice of Alvin. The urge to give in just wasn't strong enough anymore. Crystal took the lead once more, slinking carefully through the labyrinth of foliage. The terrain started to angle - now they were climbing a hill.

"Can't we talk about this...?" Now she could hear Hiccup...and the faint sound of waves.

"I was never one for talking." Carly quickened her pace - being the friend of a juvenile delinquent had taught her _quite_ a lot about fights, and she knew what a threat was.

As the voices got louder, Crystal suddenly dove into a large bush. Following her, Carly found the dragon staring intently through a gap in the leaves, hissing softly. Taking a deep breath to stop any screaming, Carly ever so slightly pushed open the leaves and glimpsed through the peephole.

She had been right to worry.

The pale light of the full moon illuminated the tall ledge they were on, the raging waters of the ice-cold ocean crashing against the rocky cliff face...the silhouetted figures of Alvin and Hiccup.

"You truly are too clever for your own good, boy," Alvin sneered, using his hook to caress the face of his terrified prey. He raised his left hand to press his sword against Hiccup's stomach. "I can _assure _you, the fate I originally intended for you would have been _far_ superior than _this_ method. In a few minutes you're going to _wish_ you were being ripped apart by those devils."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Really...Viking, Roman, _psychopath,_ what's the difference?"

Alvin just smiled. "I know what you're thinking, Haddock - you're going to babble your way out of this. If I were in your place, however..._I would not choose my words so poorly."_

In a flash, he dropped his sword down and slashed at Hiccup's good leg.

Carly squeaked in terror as Hiccup dropped to the ground, writhing and screaming in pain..._that scream._

"I don't believe talking can fix that. Nor can it fix this." Alvin violently kicked Hiccup in the side, rolling him towards the edge of the cliff. "Ugh! Oh, I _know,_ lad, I _know. _I can hear you _loud and clear_...a little too loud, though." Kneeling down, he gently used his hook to push Hiccup's face back towards him, and punched the boy in the jaw. He smiled - the bruise was already appearing.

Carly couldn't move. She was so scared that she was fixated on the terrible scene. So fixated, in fact, that she didn't hear the enraged screeching until it was too late.

"...Crystal...!"

Alvin's head had already snapped around to glare at the tiny dragon bravely charging towards him. _Yes,_ he thought,_ come. Just a little closer, devil..._

Crystal was almost there, aiming a fireball at Alvin's wooden leg - and with a roll of his eyes, the man nonchalantly kicked her, sending the Terror sprawling down the hill.

Alvin was unaware of whose dragon he had just attacked, but Hiccup wasn't. He tried to raise himself up, desperately searching for a sign of his friends. Without warning, a searing, white-hot pain shot through his arm, and he dropped to the ground again, trying to turn away from the sight of his blood on this monster's sword.

"...What...what is _wrong_ with you?" he sobbed.

Alvin kicked him again. And again and again and _again,_ forcing him closer to the edge of the cliff. _"You,_ my boy, are the _living, breathing form of everything I lost! _My _father,_ my _tribe,_ my _true love,_ my _only home..."_ He put all his force into one last kick that sent Hiccup tumbling to the edge of the cliff, mere inches from a drop that would end his life in a moment. Taking a deep breath, Alvin placed his foot on Hiccup's stomach and stared into his emerald eyes. "I...am a _warrior._ I _destroy_ my enemies. And I assure you, Haddock...ever since I learned of your birth, _you have been my enemy."_

Carly couldn't believe it - this was actually happening. This death, this horrible tragedy she had worked so hard to prevent, had been _sent here_ to prevent - it was _actually happening. Right before her eyes._ Then...something else happened. Something very weird. A strange feeling swept through Carly. It wasn't fear - it was anger. Pure, raw anger. Anger directed right at Alvin for everything he'd done; for betraying his people, for turning her friends against her, for daring to return here, for his merciless torture of Hiccup, for kicking Crystal..._especially_ for kicking Crystal. She didn't know why, but at that moment all she wanted was to see Alvin's teeth get knocked down his slimy throat - more than that, she wanted to be the one who did it.

To put it simply, Carly Shay's sense of decency had snapped.

"HEY!"

Alvin spun around to see a slim figure standing a short distance from him - the girl. The Terrible Terror was coiled at her feet, hissing vehemently, she clutched a sword in her hands and there was hatred in her eyes.

"..._You._"

"..._Me."_

"I'm actually glad to see you, little one. Witnesses are nice for these kinds of things."

_"Zip it."_

"Might I ask how you - "

_"I SAID **ZIP IT,** YOU **SKUNKBAG!"**_

Alvin sneered. She had suddenly turned rebellious. "What do you want?"

_"Leave...him...**alone."**_

Slowly, Alvin raised his leg off Hiccup, making the boy groan in pain. "Is that all?" he asked, smiling as he sauntered down the hill towards Carly. "As you wish. He is nearly dead, anyway."

"He's not the only one."

Alvin's eye glinted evilly. "No..._he's not."_

Carly had seen that glint before - she ducked just in time to avoid Alvin's sword as it hissed through the air. She practically growled as she violently clashed her blade against his. Alvin growled back - oh, he was angry now.

"You're stronger than you seem, _child,"_ he said mockingly.

"Yeah, I've been getting that a lot."

The air filled with the sounds of clashing metal and furious screeches as Carly nimbly avoided Alvin's attacks. In a twisted way, it reminded the girl of her first and only sword-fighting lesson...if she'd been royally ticked at Astrid instead of royally freaked. Crystal had recovered from the kick Alvin had given her, but she wasn't about to forgive him for it. She dashed around the two battling figures, screeching happily at Carly and furiously at Alvin and spitting an occasional fireball.

_"Really,_ Miss Carly, _why_ do you fight me?" Alvin asked sweetly, dodging his opponent's thrust. "I'm your_ friend,_ remember? Did I desert you like _they_ did?"

To his delight, Carly paused momentarily. "...No..."

It was his turn to strike. Smirking, he lashed forward with a yell, and his blade met...another blade.

"...They're scared, and confused, and _Vikings," _Carly continued confidently. "But they're also _loyal_...can't really say that about you, can I?"

Alvin roared in rage and raised his sword above the girl's head. He was starting to bring it down when his battle cry abruptly turned into a scream of pain. In all the chaos, neither of them had noticed Hiccup grab his knife and pull himself down the hill towards the fight. Said knife was now partially submerged in Alvin's remaining leg. "YOU _IGNORANT, **USELESS CHILD!"**_ Alvin screeched, his voice rising several octaves. With an inhuman scream, he kicked Hiccup in the head and down the hill, the boy crying out miserably as he lost consciousness.

_"Hiccup!"_

Taking advantage of the distraction, Alvin grabbed Carly's neck in a chokehold and victoriously spun her around to face him, his sword hovering at her chest, ready to pierce her heart. "Compassion, little one, is a _weakness."_

As Carly gasped for breath, images flashed past her eyes - she saw herself back in the museum, opening the portal to Berk; she saw Sam tackle Astrid, and their first meeting with Hiccup; she saw the Vikings of Berk roused by Sam's heroic speech; she saw Crystal nuzzled in the crook of her arm as they sat together in the arena; she saw Alvin's rusty hook pointed between her eyes, illuminated by the light of the campfire; she saw Toothless held down by Romans, and Hiccup sacrificing his own freedom to save his friend; she saw the face of Valhallarama, her green eyes, just like her son's, pleading for her to have strength; she saw the dust and grit of the amphitheater at Sinistra, and her brother jumping into the ring to help them. Her whole adventure was replaying before her eyes...

...and far away in the distance, she heard a voice ask, _"Where'd you learn that smacking thing, anyway?"_

_"...Oh, just something we use in Seattle."_

_That smacking thing..._

Carly yelled as she slashed her sword across Alvin's arm. Shocked, he released his hold on her, letting his sword drop in the process.

_"That_ was for giving me amnesia," Carly sneered. "And this? _This is for everything else."_

And she brought the flat side of her blade against Alvin's forehead.

He obviously hadn't been expecting it - he tripped, stumbling to his knees. He tried to bring his hand back to steady himself...and for one moment, just when it mattered the most, he forgot his sword.

There was the sound of metal tearing through flesh. The grass turned red. Alvin screamed in unbearable pain as he scrambled to pull out the blade, but he only pushed in further in. The man gave out one last raspy gasp, then his eyes slowly and grotesquely rolled back into his head as he fell forward onto the now blood-soaked earth.

And just like that, without another sound, Alvin the Treacherous was dead.

Carly's mind reeled as she stumbled backwards, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Now that her adrenaline rush was gone, her sense of decency had returned - at the moment, all she wanted to do was puke.

Then the boy lying behind her started to moan.

"...Hiccup..."

* * *

**Next chapter: Every battle has an aftermath.**

**_I AM SO SORRY_. I've been utterly swamped with homework and I can barely get away to work on the story. And just when I was nearly finished, I decided to update a few details in Chapter 2, and accidentally uploaded the thing again! I really, truly do not know how that happened. I could have sworn I pressed the right buttons...well, I hope you found this chapter to your liking. We've got a lot of loose ends to tie up in the next one, though...and the play I've been working on is about to open...long story short, you guys might be in for another wait. I'll try, though. In the meantime, my poll is still open if you want to vote. So far, only _six_ of you have listened. _Six?_ Come on, I _know_ I get more readers than that!**

**~A. Kingsleigh  
**


	17. Chapter 17

**DISCLAIMER: I own the laptop I'm writing this on. Does that count for anything?

* * *

**

"...Hiccup..."

All thoughts of Alvin were pushed aside as Carly knelt by the side of her friend. The boy was slowly coming to from the kick delivered to his head, and he was starting to squirm, murmuring something as he did so.

"No! Hiccup! Don't...don't _move."_

Hiccup opened his eyes just a sliver, tears of pain streaming down his face. His lips were moving now - he was trying to form words.

"What? What is it?"

"...Mom..._Mom...don't...go..."_

"It's me! It's Carly!" She was beginning to wonder if his brain had been damaged. "Please..._please_ say something that _makes sense!"_

Hiccup opened his eyes further and started to glance around. He gazed at the brightening sky, at his injured arm, at Alvin's body, then up at Carly. After a long silence, he spoke...

_"Ow."_

Carly nearly burst into tears. _"Hiccup!_ Did he really hurt you? Are you going to die? You can't die! We're all _too stupid_ for you to die - "

Hiccup smiled. "Calm down," he said reassuringly as he used his good arm to push himself up. "Trust me, worse things can happen..._wow_, that guy was stronger than he looked...do you mind?"

After helping him sit, Carly began to examine Hiccup's wounds; he was going to have a _nasty_ bruise on his jaw where he'd been punched, as well as several where Alvin had kicked him. The slashes on his arm and leg were, thankfully, rather clean cuts. Some blood dripped from them, but not nearly enough to be a threat. While they would definitely be lasting scars, they wouldn't kill. The remainder of Carly's shirtsleeve was sacrificed to bind the wounds, then Hiccup asked to hear everything that had happened - not only did he want to know exactly what had possessed Carly to attack Alvin head-on, he was adamant about hearing whether or not Toothless was okay. "Don't worry, I got a very good view of all _that,"_ he muttered when Carly started telling him what she and Astrid had found. "Come on, we gotta get back there," he said, trying to stand.

"I'm sorry," Carly replied as she gently helped him up.

"For what?"

"The last four days of your life."

_"Even_ the life-saving parts?" Hiccup asked, smiling as he feigned incredulity.

"I was thinking more like the 'got-everyone-captured' part."

"Got scared? I don't blame you - "

At that moment, they heard the sound of rustling foliage.

_Like right now, for example._ "Um...who's there?" Carly called out, picking up her sword again.

With a loud snap and an even louder shriek, a blonde-haired figure came crashing down from the tree, landing violently in front of the two friends. "Branch down! BRANCH DOWN! STUPID BRANCH!" shouted the figure...or, to be more accurate, Sam.

To say that Carly and Hiccup were shocked was an understatement. "You...what are...how long...?"

"Sam? Sam! _Hiccup!"_ Now Astrid was pulling herself out from a bush, trying to wave her axe threateningly. "I swear, Roman, if you - "

She stopped dead at the sight of Hiccup and Carly together. "Oh...you," she said, sounding disappointed and a little..._uh, oh.  
_

Carly knew what would almost certainly be coming next. She tried in vain to come up with the words needed to explain everything, but Hiccup just sighed, shook his head slightly, detached himself from Carly and made his way towards his girlfriend with surprising speed. Carly and Sam watched with amazement as Hiccup wrapped his arms around Astrid and drew her in for a passionate kiss. Although she made a few half-hearted protests, Astrid quickly relaxed as her eyes drifted closed and she returned the display of affection.

"Aw..."

_"Oi!_ Look, I'm glad for two, _really," _Sam quipped, rolling her eyes at the scene,"but there are _way_ better things to be watching than - _Holy crab, HOW'D **THAT** HAPPEN?" _

* * *

Berk was in a...rather eventful state when the kids returned. The battle was over, the Berkians victorious; the other teens had all survived; Mrs. Benson was proudly dragging the two unfortunate Romans she'd attacked to the arena, where the prisoners were being held; most important of all, Toothless had been carried back to Hiccup's house and treated - he was going to be all right. Then there was Spencer, whom they found waving a large tree branch menacingly and threatening a traumatized soldier he'd cornered with the wrath of 'The Dreaded Pac-Rat.' He wasn't quite yet ready to give up being Aruthor - but Sam took it upon herself to hurry him along.

"What's happenin'?" Stoick asked, walking up as Carly was pulling her best friend off her now-convulsing-in-shock brother. "Are you all right?"

Spencer smiled gleefully. "I...was _perfect,"_ he whispered before passing out.

Stoick wasn't interested in him, however. "Hiccup, what happened?" he asked, catching his breath at the bruises and cuts on his son. His eyes narrowed in rage. "Where's Alvin?"

"He's dead, Chief," Astrid answered quickly. " Up at the eastern cliff. Fell on his own sword."

A look of near-disbelief crossed the chief's face, and he seemed to almost stumble backwards a little. For a moment, the kids thought he was about to _cry._ But then he hastily shook his head, as though clearing himself of Alvin's memory, and turned to the Vikings accompanying him. "Collect the body," he commanded emotionlessly. As he started walking back to his house, followed by Hiccup and the others, he murmured, "He finally..."

"Dad," Hiccup said, "he was gone. I mean, _really gone."_

Stoick was quiet for a few moments before answering. "I know, son...I know."

It took a while, but life was soon on its way to being normal again. Carly told her friends about her mysterious dreams, and Snotlout declared that "I knew it the whole time! I mean, I kinda did...okay, not completely," while an awe-struck Hiccup simply whispered, "Wow." Alvin's body was taken back to the village where it was burned - the ashes were tossed into the ocean afterward. Hiccup personally oversaw the recovery of Toothless and after a few weeks, a long scar was the only memory of the attack on his friend. Carly and Astrid likewise cared for the boy, although he openly admitted that the former's treatment of him was much more gentle, "unless you _like_ being threatened with further prosthetics if you leave your bed, of course." Eligius had been offered an escort back home by his crew via the ship they had taken, but the young man declined: the brief taste of Viking life had been very much to his liking, and he announced that he wished to stay in Berk to 'observe the ways of its natives.' Spencer was having way too much fun regaling the Berkians with the tale of his adventure as Aruthor, especially the part where he 'controlled a very convenient mighty storm!' One night, while sitting in the Meade Hall, having heard this story dozens of times, Carly was wondering how the ploy could possibly have worked when a dim outline in the corner of the room caught her eye. A tall, vaguely female-looking figure stood in the shadows, listening to the story with a knowing smile on her face. She seemed almost to shimmer as she leaned against the wall. _No way,_ thought Carly. Was that..._Valhallarama?_

_

* * *

_She got her answer when she went to sleep that night. Once again, after drifting off, she opened her eyes to find herself in the empty iCarly studio. "So _you_ caused Aruthor's Mighty Storm," she asked, feeling a presence behind her.

"Did I not say he was enjoying himself?" Valhallarama replied, sitting next to Carly.

"Why'd you come back, Mrs. Haddock?"

"To thank you for saving my Hiccup, and some other matters."

"Like what?"

"Carly...your quest is...well, fulfilled."

"Yeah?"

"...The time has come for you to return home."

_Home?_ It had been a while since Carly had let herself think of that word. As it popped into her mind, so did the image of Berk - small, cozy, full of now-familiar faces. So many amazing things had happened to her there - but then she began to think about Ridgeway, and her apartment, and Spencer's crazy sculptures and iCarly...Berk was wonderful, but Seattle was home.

"How?"

The next morning, Carly told Spencer and her friends what had been planned, then asked the Viking teens to come with her and the others on a walk in the woods, "you know, to see if we missed any Romans or something." Carly, Sam, Freddie, Spencer and Gibby said goodbye to their dragons, who looked equally remorseful - except for Crystal. The Terrible Terror insisted on coming along, and Carly didn't have the heart to send her away. As it turned out, she was one of the few who actually seemed committed to walking; the twins got into a fight, as did Spencer and Snotlout, leaving Sam and Astrid to calm them all down, and Gibby and Fishlegs got into an extensive conversation about Gronckles. Knowing how long settling a fight between Ruff and Tuff could take, Carly, Hiccup and Crystal walked on.

Carly hadn't thought about what she was going to say to Hiccup, and she really didn't want to. After all they'd been through, she wasn't going to lie to her friend. So she talked incessantly about dragon training and how Toothless was getting on and what they would do about Sinistra. But when they reached a large, sunlit clearing, Hiccup - who'd been unusually quiet - said two words that silenced her completely.

"You're leaving."

She stopped dead. "Who told you that?"

"I think you'll appreciate this...Mom told me."

_"...WHAT?"_

He smiled. "You know how she visits you in dreams? Well, she would do it to me whenever I'd had a really bad day...when I just wanted to give up. And when you stood up to Astrid on that boat - that was when I knew she'd had a talk with you."

"Look, I'm sorry about this..."

"If you have to go, you have to go, that's all there is to it; I'll tell Dad you got an urgent message from your 'king.' Astrid knows, but it's just her and me."

As if on cue, the Viking blonde walked brusquely up behind them, followed by Sam, as well as Carly's other friends.

"Now I hope we all take a few important lessons away from all this," Mrs. Benson was saying. "Hygiene, social skills..."

"Courage, loyalty," Freddie continued.

"Good point, Fredward," Sam said. "Are we all ready? What, no crying?"

"No," Carly said, although she felt like sobbing by now.

Something nudged her leg. It was Crystal, making a trilling sound as though asking what was going on. Carly sighed as she picked up the dragon and nuzzled her. "...I'm gonna miss you," she breathed into Crystal's ear before handing her to Hiccup. "Think you can handle her?"

"I know _some_ jokes,' he answered as the dragon roosted on his head. "Can't say they're all that funny, but I'll work on 'em."

At that moment, Carly could have cared less that all her friends and Astrid were watching. She lunged forward and hugged Hiccup tightly, letting the tears run silently down her face. "Thanks...for everything."

"You, too."

Reluctantly, Carly pulled herself from the boy and turned to face Astrid, who looked a little miffed. "You take good care of him. He deserves it."

To her surprise, Astrid smiled and nodded. "I will."

"Uh, guys? You might wanna wrap this up," said Spencer, gesturing to the sky.

They all looked up. It was high noon - the appointed time for Valhallarama to come.

Slowly, Carly and her friends walked into the center of the clearing, away from Hiccup and Astrid. As Carly closed her eyes, she felt a warm wind sweep around them.

_"Are you ready?"_ Hiccup's mother whispered.

Carly opened her eyes; there she was, standing right next to her. "Yeah...we're ready."

Valhallarama turned back to look at her grinning son and his astonished girlfriend. Hiccup waved at his mother, and she waved back. _"I'm proud of you, Hiccup,"_ she murmured.

The clearing seemed to grow brighter and Carly's head started to spin. She saw Hiccup and Astrid waving and faintly heard them yelling "Goodbye, goodbye!" She saw Crystal squirm and jump out of Hiccup's arms, running at a breakneck speed towards her human.

And then...then she saw nothing at all.

**Next chapter: And they all lived happily ever after...well, you know, sort of.**

**And here it is! Sorry for the long wait, guys - my life has been one long string of craziness right now. I was inspired to write a play for this project my theater on Friday, and the deadline for submitting it is on Tuesday, so I ended up writing it in two days. Then my mom managed to poison herself with some Skittles - long story - and landed us all in the hospital waiting room; we didn't get home until 3 AM. Luckily, this next (and FINAL) chapter will hopefully be much shorter than the others, so I'll start working on it as soon as possible.**

**~A. Kingsleigh  
**


	18. Chapter 18

**Here it is. At long last, here it is - the final chapter of this tale. I want to just pour my heart out right here, but...*sniff*...I...need a moment. So, you'll get the full A/N after the chappie, but for now, enjoy the conclusion of **_**iTrainDragons.**_

**DISCLAIMER: No, I don't own iCarly or HTTYD, but APPARENTLY, Pixar Animation Studios owns the Academy Awards yet again...

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"...Carly..."

At the sound of her best friend's voice, Carly opened her eyes, squinting at the bright burst of sunlight which quickly faded away as gray clouds covered the sky. She realized she was lying on a bench, in a park, next to a neat stone walkway leading...to the history museum.

"S...Sam? Sam?" she asked, sitting up.

Sam plopped down next to her. "It's about time - you've been out for a couple hours. So are you totally awake, or do we need to go home because the museum closes in, like, an _hour_ or something and I _really_ don't wanna come back tomorrow."

"Uh, no, I'm fine," Carly answered as she noted that both she and Sam were wearing their normal clothes again. _Now how did that happen?_

A scary thought struck her. _Was it...was it all a dream?_

"Sam...did we...?"

"CARLY! SAM! You two _gotta_ come see this!"

"It's uh-MAY-zing!"

The two girls were abruptly pulled off the bench by Spencer and Freddie, who began to drag them down the walkway towards the museum. Up ahead they could see Mrs. Benson, waving and beckoning and seeming equally enthusiastic.

_"FREDDIE!"_ shrieked Sam as the quartet ducked into a large crowd in front of the museum. "You have exactly_ two seconds_ to explain _what is going on in your head _before I _**jerk it off your neck!"**_

At that moment, they pushed their way to the front of the crowd, getting a full view of the thing everyone was admiring. Carly's mouth dropped open - _no way._

She remembered the large fountain which stood in the center of the museum's plaza. What she _didn't_ remember was the statue atop it. There, carved in stone, proudly mounted where all could see, were Hiccup and Toothless. The Night Fury's wings were spread in flight, and the boy had a smile so big, the only possible explanation was that he was just happy to be alive. But what really shocked Carly were the words now etched into the fountain's base:

_IN HONOR OF HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK III, THE DRAGON WHISPERER OF BERK, KNOWN BY ALL AS A KIND SOUL AND BRAVE LEADER, AND IN EVERLASTING PRAISE OF HIS VALIANT SAVIORS AND GUARDIANS, FOR WHOSE DISTANT HOMELAND WE NAME OUR CITY:_

_**SEATTLE, WASHINGTON**_

Forget surprised...Carly was utterly _floored._ "That..." she struggled for words. "That wasn't...here before. Wasn't."

"But it's _cool,_ right?" replied Spencer enthusiastically. "Come on, say it's not cool."

"It's not cool - "

"YOU LIE!"

"Well, this is a _Back To The Future_ moment," Freddie mused.

"No kidding; I give a speech and end up _naming my hometown_," said Sam. "Y'know, not that I mind."

"So...what else is new?" Gibby asked.

The crowd was filing past them now, heading into the museum, chattering excitedly about the new Viking exhibit. _Yeah,_ thought Carly. _What __**is**__ new?

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_

Pretty much everything, as they found out. Gone were the bleakness and mystery surrounding the island of Berk; its history was now heavily documented, especially the Great Golden Age, as the time after the Viking-Dragon War was called. The tiny village flourished under the leadership of Hiccup, undoubtedly its greatest chief. The youth who had once dismissed himself as a talking fishbone would use his wit and courage as powerful weapons when he succeeded his father as leader of the tribe. He would turn the insignificant island into a formidable stronghold, feared by the Vikings' enemies and beloved by its allies. But that wasn't all - under his guidance, the Viking tribes would unite and, led by the great chief and his best friend, the Night Fury known as Toothless, they would ultimately drive the Romans from their forts in the north. With that threat gone, a new age of peace began, bringing joy and prosperity to the Viking land and its inhabitants. The descendants of the Vikings still lived on Berk - the Dragon Riders, however, had slowly left the island over the centuries, seeing that the changing world was leaving them behind in favor of more sophisticated weaponry. Although they had not been seen in years, the Berkians claimed that the riders still communicated with them...and every once in a while, there were rumors of dragon spottings in the far north.

Hiccup himself lived a long and happy life; he married Astrid Hofferson, his first love and fellow dragon rider, who loyally stood by him throughout their lives. It was told in many records and stories that their firstborn child, a daughter, was named after a cherished friend of Hiccup's who, during a Roman attack on Berk, had nobly saved the boy's life. The girl's name, however, was lost - the only surviving information of it merely stated that it was an exceedingly unusual moniker for a Viking.

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"Ohh, my _head,"_ groaned Sam, who had collapsed on the couch as the group relaxed in the Shays' apartment that evening.

"What's wrong?" asked Freddie. "Did you _finally_ eat something that didn't like you?"

"So...much..._learning_...can't...move."

"You're not calling it a day just yet," said Carly. "Can't do iCarly without my co-host."

Freddie bolted out of his chair. "Oh, _man,_ we've got _ten minutes!_ Let me just..."

"FREDDIE!" called Mrs. Benson from across the hall. "I forgot your weekly helping of eggplant! Come and eat it RIGHT NOW!"

"...set up the props. Uh, Carly...?"

Several minutes later, Carly had finished setting up for the webshow's first act, one of their Cowboy and Idiot Farmgirl plays. Letting out a sigh, she sat down and just looked at the room. Their studio was just as she remembered it; crammed with odds and ends. _I really oughta clean this place up..._there was still some time before the show began, time to just think. Although she made a valiant effort not to, Carly couldn't help but wonder if Hiccup's mother would be watching them tonight. _Is it dumb to wish they were here?_

Just then, she heard the noise of soft breathing. It was coming from the other end of the room, in the car.

"You!" Carly said, standing up. "Um...come outta there now." No answer. Cautiously, she crept toward the car, picking up a nearby golf club as she did so. She was a few feet away when she accidentially stepped on a squeaky floorboard. The high-pitched creak was immediately by a loud, annoyed, inhuman screech and a small creature poked its head into view, freezing when it saw the source of the noise.

Carly dropped her golf club. "But...you..._**HOW?"**_

Her questions would have to wait, though, because Crystal had dashed out from her hiding place, knocked her friend to the ground and was eagerly licking her face.

"Oh my _gosh,"_ was all Carly could say as she lovingly picked up her dragon. "Just couldn't stay away, could you?"

Crystal awkwardly nodded her head in reponse, making the girl laugh. "Yeah, I thought so," Carly said. She stood up and began stroking the Terror. "I thought I'd never see you again, girl." _I'll never forget this,_ she thought._ I'll never forget them...not with you._

"Carly! Showtime!" It was Sam, coming up the stairs. Quickly, Carly hid Crystal in the car. "Don't move," she whispered as she turned to face the door. Telling the others now would just stall the show - besides, she wasn't totally sure what would happen. No matter what they said, though, she was keeping Crystal. That much was certain. _Life around here's not gonna be the same...not that I mind, of course._

"WHO'S READY FOR A _WEBSHOW?"_ yelled Sam, bursting into the room with Freddie behind her.

"Let's do it!" responded Carly.

In a few seconds, Freddie had the camera going. "And we're live on the Web in 5, 4, 3, 2..."

_Here we go, guys. Let's wing it._

"HEEEYYYY!"

"What _up?"_

"I'm Carly!"

"I'm Sam!"

"And this is..."

"...iCARLY!"

**|~|The End|~|

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**It's done. After all this time, it's done. Wow.**

**First, I'd like to thank everyone who ever reviewed, favorited, alerted or even looked at this story. It kept me going throughout the process of writing a crossover that I truly thought was going to fail... but, as you helped me discover, Nickelodeon's most popular live-action show and DreamWorks Animation's greatest film go pretty darn well together.**

**Next, I'm proud to announce the results of my poll. It was no contest; an **_**iTrainDragons**_** sequel won by a landslide, with 91% of the votes. The other 8% went in favor of my Tangled fanfic, **_**In Pursuit of Happiness.**_** So I'll be writing the sequel next, then **_**Pursuit.**_** Thanks to everyone who voted!**

**Finally, I just want to give you all a formal farewell. I look forward to meeting you all again as I create more fantastic stories on this site. But for now, I'm signing off. That's all for **_**iTrainDragons.**_** I had a blast writing it, and I truly hope that you had blast reading it. Catch ya later.**

**~A. Kingsleigh**


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